Awe of She
by Shadow Draygon
Summary: After months of seaching, the Postwar Admin. Bureau may finally have found the supposedly dead Commander Gear, Dizzy. Canceled Chapter 11 because it's now becoming a comic.
1. Innocence: Lost & Found

* * *

No matter how many times Janus looked over the Postwar Admin. Bureau's file on the Commander Gear Dizzy, he found himself rereading it. It had only been a couple of months after her official death and Jam Kuradoberi claimed the 500,000 world dollar bounty. Newspaper clippings, reports from agents, and various video recordings of Jam's interview were all over his desk, along with several reports on the dead Commander Gear Justice and the humanoid Gear Testament. But after reading through all of them, Janus couldn't help but feel doubt that one Chinese cook could takedown two of the most powerful Gears in the world. He knew that her Ki powers were unmatched, but they paled in comparison to the power of a Gear. _"Especially a Commander Gear,"_ he thought to himself, _"It took Justice 100 years to be beaten by humans."  
_  
Janus put Dizzy's report back on top of his collection of files that scattered his desk. His superiors told him that Dizzy was a wild goose chase and shouldn't be dealt with at the time being, but he couldn't let it go. Out of all the reports he's read, one fact was never in them: Dizzy's body was never recovered. He had sent agents to the Devil's Forest where she was presumably living and they found no trace of her. They did however run into Testament and he seemed to be protecting the forest from outsiders.  
  
He shook his head, he need to think about something else, and coffee. Janus stood up and made his way toward the break room. As he stepped in he saw on of his coworkers, Gregory, at the table reading a newspaper. As Janus pored a cup of coffee out of one the pots he said, "You know, for a multimillion dollar organization, you'd think they could provide us with some decent tasting coffee."  
  
Gregory laughed at Janus's remark. "You could always file a complaint."  
  
"Yeah, I've done that, I filed one every year, and every year they provide us with the same old muck." Janus sat down across from Gregory, slowly drinking the "muck" out of his mug.  
  
He placed his paper on the table to look at Janus, "Still working on the Dizzy case? You really should concentrate on something else and give it up, you've been working on that case for months."  
  
"I can't seem to let it go. There are too many loose ends and unanswered questions that I need answered to." He took another sip out of his mug, "So where's Stan and James?"  
  
"They're in the control room observing our "other" priorities. You should go see them, they could use the help."  
  
"Heh, Stan and James need help? That's an understatement." Stan and James were practically interns but they've been working here for 5 years. A waste of time and effort in Janus's eyes, but he really need something else to work on. He finished his cup and walked out the door, "Don't work too hard Greg."  
  
Gregory picked up his paper again, "Oh I won't, I haven't gotten to sports section yet."  
  
Janus made his way to the control room, the room where they relay all the information the Postwar Bureau agents recorded. As he walked in he saw the Terrible Twosome huddled over a console giggling like school girls. He overheard one of them say, "Look how pissed she is! Now tell it to fight her!"  
  
As James typed on the control console Janus walked up to them trying to see what trouble they've started. "What the hell are you guys doing?"  
  
Stan and James jumped at Janus's remark and he could see what was on the screen. It looked like a restaurant set on fire and one very angry Chinese cook, Jam Kuradoberi, staring into the monitor. "Oh hey Boss," Stan said, "We were just using unit RK-002034 to stir up some trouble with subject 17."  
  
Janus was angered at his remark, "You know those RK units cost money, you just can't go destroying them for pure enjoyment." He said this while pointing at the monitor as Jam kicked the monitor and it turned to static.  
  
"It all in the name of science, just look at this Ki data we got off of that one kick!" James was pointing at the screen where it showed the report of the Ki attacks Jam used on the Robo Ky unit.  
  
"Yeah, well that one kick just cost you 100,000 dollars."  
  
"Yeah, but we still have thousands of Robo Kys running around, it's no big deal." Stan said as he spun around on his chair, "So what brings you here? Not getting anywhere on the Dizzy case?" As Stan said this James tried to hold off a laugh, Janus was getting sick of everyone giving a hard time on working on that case. True he hasn't gotten anywhere in months, but it was his obsession, he just couldn't let it go.  
  
"Oh, ha ha, very funny guys, besides her who else have you been observing?"  
  
"Well you'll be happy to know that we finally got an RK on the Mayship of the Jellyfish Pirates."  
  
Janus raised his eyebrows to that, "Really? How'd you manage that?"  
  
James looked really smug with himself, "Well it all thanks to me, we were able to find out when exactly the next supply pick up was for the Jellyfish, found the town, and while they were getting supplies we managed to sneak an RK onto their ship."  
  
"You have any visuals of the ship?"  
  
"Yep, we have all of the deck on camera and the RK is currently working on the lower levels of the ship." Stan added, "Yep, pretty cool huh? You want to see?"  
  
Janus pulled up a chair. "Sure, load it up." Stan and James nodded at the command and turned back toward their consoles and switched the TV monitors to show different angles of the deck of the Mayship. He could see Johnny and May, subject 8 and 9, talking on monitor. Janus looked as the little pirate captain was talking eagerly to Johnny about something, Janus knew that May was infatuated with him, he was a father, a brother, and possibly a lover to her.  
  
He could see the party coming back from their supply run, there were three of them, one was named April, May best friend, July, a tough looking girl with an eye patch and a sword, and someone he's never seen before that was wearing a cloak. "Who's that?" As he pointed to the figure in question, "A new member?"  
  
Stan looked at the screen for a moment, "I don't know, if we get their face we can do a search. Probably won't turn up anything, another orphan most likely." The cloaked figure removed their hood revealing that it was indeed another girl. She had red eyes and blue hair with two yellow bows that tied the hair together in loops. "There we go," Stan froze the image for a moment and captured her face a put it through an identify program.  
  
"She looks a little old to be running with Johnny's group don't you think?" James added. "I wonder about that guy sometimes." The identifier came up with 'No File' displayed on the screen. "Told ya." Stan said pointing at the display.  
  
The pirates on the deck headed inside and the ship began to take off. "Well, until we get the rest of the cameras installed inside the ship, we can only watch the deck." Janus was about to ask them for other data on some of their other subjects when something caught his eye.  
  
"Wait rewind the video." Stan did so, "Ok stop," he pointed at the new girl again as she was heading into the ship, "What's that? Zoom in on that." Stan obeyed and zoomed in on what Janus was pointing at, something yellow and black near the girl's boots underneath her cloak. "Ok now enhance the picture." The picture became focused and they could see that is was a black tip with another one of those yellow bows tied to it. "What the hell is that?"  
  
Stan and James both looked at the picture of the strange object, "I don't know, isn't that the same bow like the ones in her hair?" James added, "Yeah it does, what it the world is that black thing though?"  
  
"Try enhancing around the base of the cloak and try to come up with a virtual representation of what it is." The computer processed for a while, it drew a sketch outline of the girl in the cloak and then the black object at her feet. Then it analyzed the texture of the cloak to try and give the girl an outline and then traced the black object. It was drawn longer and led up to her waist.  
  
"Is that a tail?" James asked, "Does she have a tail?" The computer however failed to trace the girl's upper body and pointed out that there was something on her back that it couldn't predict.  
  
"No you idiot, why would she have a tail!" Stan criticizing James comment, "It looks like she has something on her back, a backpack you think? It could be hanging off of whatever's on her back."  
  
Janus just stared at the tracing of the girl, there was something strange about her. "Keep an eye on her, something tells me that there's more to this girl under that cloak. Can you move the RK unit into position?"  
  
James turned to Janus, "Unfortunately no, the unit will be in too high risk area to be spotted, we'll have to wait until they're done taking off and become more dispersed.  
  
"Now you care about the well being of the unit?" Janus asked curiously.  
  
"Well with the last one we can always send another to that location, but this on the Mayship, they probably won't land in awhile, if we lose this unit we won't get the chance for months, plus it will make the pirates suspicious."  
  
Janus looked at James funny, "Wow, you actually said something smart for once in your life. Let me know when you're able to get another visual on that girl, I'll be in my office." Janus took his leave out of the control room and back to his office.  
  
"Ha! He thinks I'm smart." James said mockingly.  
  
"Oh don't let it get to your head, it me he likes." Stan pointed to himself with a grin on his face.  
  
"Fighting over my affection won't get you anywhere guys, now shut up and do what I said." Janus left the room and got back to his office, the files still cluttering his desk. "I need to clean up this mess." He sat down in his chair and leaned back for a moment starting at the ceiling. There was nothing special about, he noticed that he stuck a pencil to it the other day and it was still there. His eyes were heavy, he's been working for 20 hours and the bad coffee was helping him stay up, he soon fell asleep. A couple of hours passed by until Janus heard a loud bang.  
  
"Boss! Boss! You gotta see this!" James broke through the door of Janus's office, this jolted Janus so bad that he fell back in his chair. "You're not going to believe this!" He continued to yell as he entered the room.  
  
"Ow," Janus hit his head against the wall from the fall. "What are you yelling for?!" He stood up, looking very grumpy and very angry at James for his rude awaking.  
  
"Sorry Boss, but take a look at this." James handed him some photos, Janus couldn't make out what they were due to his lack of sleep and his now aching head.  
  
"This had better be goo..." He finally was able to see what James was so excited about, it was pictures of the blue haired girl without her cloak on helping one of the girls sweep the deck. His eyes grew wide as he noticed that the girl did in fact have a tail and the object was not a backpack but a pair of wings.  
  
"She has a tail and wings! Johnny must have caught himself an angel!" James was jumping up and down out of the pure excitement of it, "You think the Bureau will want to observer her as well?"  
  
But Janus didn't hear what James said and continued to look at the pictures, there was something about those features that reminded him of something. He set the pictures down and began ripping through the files on his desk. "Hey Boss, you alright? Did you hear what I said?"  
  
Janus continued looking through his files until he found the newspaper clipping of Jam Kuradoberi interview after defeating Dizzy. He scanned the article until he found the sentence he was looking for:  
  
- Jam Kuradoberi described the gear having two off colored wings, one green and the other white and a long black tail. –  
  
Janus looked back at the picture and sure enough the girl had green and white wings. He looked up at the confused James. "Go back to the control room and get the RK unit to seize and capture her at once!"  
  
"I don't understand Boss, why the sudden interest in..."  
  
"DO AS I SAY!" Janus slammed his fist on his desk making James jump. He quickly turned and ran back the way he came. Janus sat down again looking at the photo, "So I finally found you, Commander Gear Dizzy."

* * *

"Thanks for the help Dizzy!" April said as she mopped the last of the deck clean.  
  
"Your welcome April, dinner won't be ready for a couple of hours so I didn't have much to do until then."  
  
"Well I'm glad you were able to help me," April wiped some sweat off her forehead. "Where's May?"  
  
Dizzy looked around the deck trying to find her friend but found no trace of her, "I think she's with Johnny, did you need to see her?"  
  
"No, I was just wondering, I figured she was hanging around Johnny, she rarely leaves his side," April started to walk back inside the ship and return her mop and before stepping inside she turn her head back at Dizzy, "You coming inside?"  
  
Dizzy shook her head, "No, I want to stay out here, the breeze feels nice." She was leaning against the railing of the deck and was looking onto the world below.  
  
"Alright, see you later then." April waved at Dizzy and entered the ship. She just started to walk down the hall when May ran into her at one of the connecting corridors.  
  
"Hey watch were you're going you – oh, hey April, Johnny said it your turn to do laundry."  
  
April sighed heavily to May comment, "But I just finished mopping the deck! Don't I get a break?!"  
  
"Well I know last week you skipped your chores because you said you were 'sick' when you were really trying on your new clothes you got from China."  
  
"Well that was more important." April said trying to make an excuse.  
  
May just returned a glazed look back at her friend, "Sure it was."  
  
April was getting agitated by May's comments, "Well at least I don't make- out with the captain to get out of chores."  
  
"Yeah, I wish." May said, she then imaging what April said and smiled at the thought. April shoved her, knowing what she was thinking about. "Anyway, where's Dizzy, I've been looking for her?"  
  
April pointed the way she came, "She's on the deck, admiring the view."  
  
May nodded and started walking the way she pointed, "Thanks April, you'd better get busy on the laundry or you'll be in trouble!"  
  
April just mumbled under her breath as she continued down the hall, May couldn't make out what she said and continued to the deck. April returned the mop back to the cleaning closet and made her way to the laundry bay. It was filled with washers and pipes that delivered laundry from the rooms upstairs to down here. Below them were hampers marked with everyone's name on it. "Better get busy." She told herself.  
  
April got a couple of the different girls' laundry into the one of the washers with not problem until she got to May's hamper. She tried lifting it but wouldn't budge, she got on one side and tried shoving it but to no avail it refused to move. "What's in here? Did May put her anchor in her or something?"  
  
She began to fish through May's laundry and heard something buzzing. She stopped to try and listen to the sound when something jumped out of the basket. April screamed as she fell backwards from the sudden movement and looked back up to see what scared her. She could see someone covered from head to toe with sheets and clothes but couldn't make out their face because a sheet covered their face. The person in question then looked in the direction of April and she could see two glowing eyes behind the sheet. The person's right arm jerked and pointed a long sword toward April, she screamed once again but fails to get off the ground frozen with fear.  
  
"WHERE-IS-THE-DECK?!" The person under the sheet demanded. April pointed up the stairs and said, "U-uupp th-there and t-t-t-oo the left." She was barely able to make a sentence.  
  
The masked figure withdrew its sword and with insane speed left the room and up the stairs. April, still trying to make sense of it all, could hardly see the person move. She put her hand to her neck and realized that she had been nicked by the sword and it drew a little blood. At the sight of blood she fainted, still on the laundry floor with clothes and sheets scattered everywhere in the room.

* * *

"What's the status of the RK?" Janus asked James when he entered back into the control room.  
  
"We just sent the orders and is making its way towards the target." James said turning around seeing Janus eagerly waiting for an update. He pulled up a chair immediately next the James and Stan to watch the situation.  
  
"Why don't we have visuals?" Janus said looking at the screen seeing that it was white.  
  
Stan turned to him, "There's something wrapped around it, but it should function fine even with its vision impaired. Janus's heartbeat was out of control, he could hardly believe after all these months that he finally had a lead on the location of the Commander Gear.  
  
"What's this?" Stan said out loud as he looked on another monitor.  
  
James looked, "That's the Mayship on radar and then noticed another blip on it, "but I don't know what that is. Whatever it is it's fast and heading toward the Mayship."  
  
Janus crossed his arms, "Let's hope it doesn't interfere with our business."

* * *

Dizzy looked down as the Mayship soared through the clouds. She could see miles of countryside and acres of forests. She loved the forest, growing up with the birds and the animals in the grove felt like paradise. The only thing she felt while living there was loneliness, the loneliness of being a Gear and having to live a life of seclusion. That's why she's happy that nice people like Johnny and May found her and took her to see the world. She missed the forest every now and then but she knew that these last few months have been the happiest in her life.  
  
She noticed one of the towns they were flying by and she recognized it was the one where she grew up with her foster parents—before she grew her wings and tail. They were forced to hide her in the forest to save her from the angry villagers when word got out that she was a Gear. She then remember Testament was staying there, maybe she could get Johnny to land so she could go visit him.  
  
Dizzy started to turn away from the railing and noticed that there was a woman in red with a guitar across the deck from where she was. _"Where did she come from?"_ Dizzy asked herself. She didn't recognize her and she knew that the woman didn't belong. Dizzy made her way toward her.

* * *

"Wait, who's that? She's not a pirate!" Janus stood up pointing at one of the video monitors.  
  
"I don't know." Stan ran a search and found no info on the red musician. "No File. Nothing, we have nothing on her."  
  
"She's moving towards her, where's that damn RK unit!" Janus yelled.  
  
"It's almost there." James replied.

* * *

The red musician looked around the ship, she smiled to herself, "What a cute boat. It's a shame I have to wreck it."  
  
Dizzy walked up to the mysterious woman, she was smiling about something and then turned her head towards her. "Excuse me...This is the Jellyfish Pirate's Ship. Please don't come aboard without permission."  
  
The red woman smirked at Dizzy comment, "You're in the way!" She then shoved her away from her. Dizzy tripped backwards and hit the railing, the woman pushed her with such force that she started to topple over the railing.  
  
"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhh!"  
  
May approached the top of the deck and could see Dizzy talking to some weird woman in red. As she started to walk towards them the woman pushed Dizzy over the edge, she couldn't believe what she was seeing, "Dizzy!" As she yelled out to her friend something fast knocked her over.

* * *

"NOOO!" Janus screamed as he saw the small confrontation with the hybrid Gear and the red musician. "Where's the blasted RK!!?"  
  
Both Stan and James were startled by his outbreak, "I-I don't know," James said, "It should be there by now."  
  
They watched on the screen and saw the pirate girl May approach the deck and was knocked over by something. That something was the RK unit moving with blinding speed and covered with a cloth over his body that it got from the laundry room. It made its way over to where Dizzy fell over and jumped off the ship. At that time the cloth fell off and they could see from its view that it dug it's sword with it right arm into the ship's hull and its left grabbed Dizzy leg.  
  
Just then an explosion ripped across the deck of the Mayship and it appeared that the red musician was the cause of it. The explosion forced the ship to bank left and caused Robo Ky's sword to come out of place and send it along with Dizzy tumbling to the ground.  
  
All three of them watched speechless as the screen of Robo Ky's vision showed them both heading for the ground, just before it hitting the screened turned black—and then showed static. 'Signal Lost' flashed on the screen.  
  
Janus was so close, his long wait was going to be finally over and then this cruel twist of fate happened. Still not believe what he just saw he looked to James and Stan, "Find where they've crashed, I'm going there with a team as soon as you pinpoint their location." Janus shook his head, and the walked out the door. _"Perfect. Just perfect, what else could go wrong today?"_


	2. Innocence: Secret Past

Dizzy screamed as she realized what had happen to her. She was falling, along with someone else who tried to catch her. She saw as the person hit several tree limbs as they fell into a nearby forest, Dizzy's green wing, Necro, sensed Dizzy's distress and quickly acted on his own. He wrapped himself around her shielding from the initial blow that the trees delivered to her. After falling past the tall trees, she landed hard next to where the other person fell. Nerco, who was still possessing Dizzy at the time, took the majority of the blow of hitting the ground.  
  
Not too long after they both fell, Dizzy felt the ground give way underneath her. The ground opened into a cave and she, along with Robo Ky, fell into it. They fell for another ten feet and hit a hard surface. After a few moments, Dizzy regained her consciousness and slowly stood up. She was in little pain, thanks to Necro, but she still felt a little banged up and confused.  
  
Dizzy looked around the cave and tried to figure out just where she had landed. She had no idea where she was. The cave was a little dark and couldn't see everything inside right away. She looked behind her and noticed the other victim of the fall, it appeared to be a man. His body was on his side facing away from her. She put her hand on his shoulder and shook him to see if he was awake. When she touched him his head spun around behind his back, and he had two big square yellow eyes that were glowing.  
  
"Aaaahhh!" Dizzy screamed at the sight of the person and the fact that his head was on backwards. Necro, once again acted on his own, and smashed the person with a giant axe. The force of the axe caused Robo Ky to shatter. Dizzy was once again startled at Necro's harsh reaction and also because the person broke apart.  
  
"Now look what you've done," She scolded at him. "He's fallen into pieces." Both Dizzy and Necro looked at the broken Robo Ky, still trying to figure out what it was. "I'm sorry," she apologized to the pile of parts, "I'll put you back together, ok?"  
  
Necro looked at Dizzy, "Child, the thing is quite dead, why are you talking to it?"  
  
"Well, I just can't leave him here," She picked up two pieces and started to put them together. "I have to try at least." The two pieces weren't working so she went onto another.  
  
"That thing could be dangerous, who knows what it will do if starts working again?!" Necro protested.  
  
"Oh would you stop with your 'Everything Is Dangerous' talk." Undine, Dizzy's other wing, decided to make an appearance and formed at Dizzy other side.  
  
Nerco gave a scornful look to his other half, "I'm trying to look out for the child's welfare, we don't know what this thing is?"  
  
Undine pointed at the green demon, "Oh don't give me that! I recall your idea for looking out for her welfare was to kill all the humans!"  
  
Nerco turned the other way, "I think its good plan," Then he said under his breath 'bitch', but Undine could hear him.  
  
"You want to say that to my face?!" Undine was upset with Necro's immaturity towards the situation.  
  
Nerco looked back at her, pointing his boney finger towards her, "Alright, I think you're a bitch, happy!?"  
  
Undine didn't say anything and just put her finger to her under eyelid and pulled it down while sticking her tongue at him.  
  
"Gggrrrr!" Nerco shook his fist at her.  
  
Dizzy couldn't take much more of their bickering, she put down the pieces she was working on, "Will you guys please stop arguing?"  
  
"She started it!" Necro pointed at Undine again, trying to make his outburst seem justified.  
  
"Bull!" Undine reacting to his statement, "It's his attitude and ego that's the cause of this!"  
  
Dizzy grasped her head with her hands, "I don't care who started it! Just stop arguing and let me concentrate!" With that statement both Necro and Undine gave each other vicious looks and reverted back to their wing status. "Thank you." She said and went back to work on putting Robo Ky back together.  
  
After about a half an hour of putting the massive puzzle that was Robo Ky, it was finally back together. Dizzy stared down at it, still not moving. "He reminds me of someone, I can't remember." She said to herself, "Now, how do we get you moving again?" Dizzy looked around him for a button or switch and found no such object. Then she spotted a small crank on the side of his neck. Dizzy reached for it and started to turn it, but the machine remained motionless. After a few moments she sighed, "Well that was a waste of time." She looked around the cave again, "There must be someway out of here."  
  
She got off her knees and stood up, her legs were still a little sore from the fall. The cave had a high ceiling and rocky walls. To the left she noticed a tunnel that led straight and beyond her sight, seeing it as the only way out of the cave, besides up, she headed down the corridor.  
  
As Dizzy traveled down the corridor, the texture of the walls shifted from a rocky structure to a more refined stone wall. She began to see something forming at the end of the corridor, it was a large metallic door and looked fairly new. There was a console on the side of the door, as Dizzy approached the door, she noticed that it was broken. The door was slanted and torn off its hinges. Dents were all over the front of the door, what ever did this was very strong. The console on the side was smashed and hanging by the wires that connected it to the wall. Dizzy peered beyond the door and saw a long hallway with florescent lights down the hallway, a couple were still on, while others were flickering as they, like the door, have been smashed. Dizzy began to walk past the door wonder where the hallway led to.

* * *

The Mayship was in total havoc. Johnny managed to land the ship safely on the outskirts of the forest that Dizzy fell into. Johnny was giving everyone job assignments, the first order of business was to find what happen to Dizzy and to get the ship up and running again. He already sent a couple of girls, one of which was May, to go looking in the forest for Dizzy. He would catch up with them later after he got everyone else working on getting the ship back in order.  
  
The explosion they had earlier was one of the ship's left engines, it would be impossible for takeoff until they got it running again. The engine wasn't badly damaged, but would take time to repair. "Who did this to my beautiful ship?!" He said as he stared up at the dismembered engine.  
  
"Just great." Johnny told himself, "Lady Luck isn't with me today, what else could go wrong?" As Johnny thought he noticed a figure coming out of the forest, at first he thought it was one of the girls coming back with news on Dizzy, but the person was far too tall. Johnny tipped his sunglasses down to see the figure better and saw it was Testament. "Uh-oh."  
  
The tall Gear appeared from the forest, "For pirates you guys sure are noisy, I could hear your ship comedown from inside the forest." Testament said approaching Johnny. "Having ship troubles?"  
  
"Yeah well we're all in kind of a tizzy right now and I'd like to welcome you with open arms, but could you come back later?" Johnny said trying to draw Testament away from the ship.  
  
Testament looked around as girls were scrambling back and forth on one of the engines, which appeared to be broken. "Don't flatter yourself, I didn't come here to see you. Where is the person I allowed you to keep here?"  
  
Johnny became nervous, he remembered how protective he was of Dizzy and if he found out what had happened to her, he'd be in trouble. "Welllll......you know, this and that." He was struggling for an excuse, Testament knew he was trying to hid something from him.  
  
Before Testament had a chance to question his strange behavior, one of the girls came up to Johnny, a small girl carrying a stuffed penguin doll. "Johnny?" Johnny looked down and saw the small girl, March, trying to get his attention. "Is it alright if I can go looking for Dizzy too?"  
  
"Ah crap." Johnny thought.  
  
Testament's eyes lit up, "What happened to Dizzy?!" he proclaimed.  
  
The little girl looked towards Testament, "Oh, you're Dizzy's friend aren't you? She fell off the ship into the forest, we're looking for her." Johnny was extremely nervous, now the cat was out of the bag.  
  
Testament's eyes looked like they were on fire. "I put her in your care and this is the thanks I get! Where did she fall!?" Testament grabbed Johnny by the collar of his trench coat as he demanded an answer.  
  
"W-We don't know alright! She in the forest somewhere, we're looking for her as we speak!" Johnny was very unsettled from Testament's actions and the look he was getting from his bright burning crimson eyes.  
  
Testament let go of Johnny, "This is what I get for entrusting her to a group of mere humans." He stormed off, intended on looking for Dizzy no doubt. Johnny breathed a sight of relief.  
  
"Johnny, did I say something wrong?" Johnny looked down and noticed that March was still by his side.  
  
"No, we just need to work on your timing." He said as he patted her on the head.

* * *

Dizzy reached the end of the hallway to yet another busted down door. Inside, the room was circular in shape, computers were lined up all around the room. There was an even larger console display in the middle of the room, in fact, it was the middle of the room. Above the console was a large glass tube, it was broken in half. Chairs and glass riddled the floor of the room, most of the computers were smashed and destroyed, this was becoming a recurring theme to Dizzy.  
  
She looked up at the main display in the center of the room, she gasped. Half of it was cracked and covered in dry blood, something terrible happened here. The dry blood ran from the display and down to the controls, part of the keyboard was missing, huge gashes from a sharp object were stabbed into the console several times. To her right she saw one of the intact buttons and it was blinking a dim red color. The button was begging to be pushed and Dizzy for filled its need.  
  
The broken display flickered and sparked a little, not long after it started to show images. She could just barely make out what the display said, 'Replaying All Log Files'. The computer hummed for a few moments and video started to appear on the broken display. It showed an older man, he wore glasses, had gray hair, and was wearing a white coat. He was looking back at Dizzy and he put his hand to his mouth as he cleared his throat.  
  
"Log 1, Day 1. My name is Professor Allens and this is a recording of the progress of the underground Gear lab. With the sealing of Justice all Gears have ceased to function. Before Justice's defeat, we managed to retrieve a DNA sample of the one and only Commander Gear. In this underground lab, we've been assigned to make a clone of Justice. The project will be known hence forth as Phoenix."  
  
The display flickered again, "Log 2, Day 17. Analyzes of the DNA is complete. The structure of the DNA helix is like none I've ever seen before, even for a Gear. The genetic structure is far too complex compared to that of a regular Gear, currently working on injecting the DNA into an egg."  
  
"Log 3, Day 19. The egg has rejected the DNA several times. Because of the incompatibility of the DNA into a human egg, further research will have to be made in order to find ways to make the DNA compatible with that of a human's."  
  
"Log 4, Day 37. We've received a Gear Cell Crafter from our sister lab in Switzerland. Working on injecting the DNA into a full grown adult, one of the scientists has volunteered to be the test subject."  
  
"Log 5, Day 38. The test subject went under the cell crafting and his body rejected it, sadly this caused the subject instant death for reasons unknown. The Gear Cell Crafter is too risky to use and more research will have to be made."  
  
"Log 6, Day 50. After careful study, we've found that a clone of Justice is inconceivable without help from the Gear's original creator, with this in mind, Project Phoenix has been scraped and have instead decide to try and make a hybrid with the Gear's DNA and that of a human's. We'll reset the logs and begin next week."  
  
The display turned off and the computer hummed for a moment. After the computer finished processing the display came on once again, revealing the same scientist as before.  
  
"Log 1, Day 1. My name is Professor Allens and this is a recording of the progress of Project Hybrid." The man said. "In this underground Gear lab, we've been assigned to create the first human-Gear hybrid. We've received the supplies from our sister lab in Switzerland and have begun working on the hybrid using a human's and Justice's DNA. We're currently working on mix the DNA into a base form that we'll use trough out the experiment."."  
  
"Log 3, Day 12. The DNA mixing is completed, the process took longer than expected due to the complexity of Justice's DNA. We shall begin working on fertilizing the base DNA with some human embryos."  
  
"Log 4, Day 20. We've successfully fertilized six eggs, five are currently frozen and we'll begin working on the first one today."  
  
"Log 5, Day 21. The Embryo has developed and is currently growing, the growth rate is astonishing, it's been only a day and the embryo is already in its second growth cycle!"  
  
"Log 6, Day 22. The Embryo self-aborted today. Reasons unknown, we're looking into the matter until we've found the cause."  
  
"Log 7, Day 30. After another abortion, we found that the abortions appears to have been caused by the unstableness of the Gear DNA in the hybrid mix, currently working on ways to 'balance' the DNAs."  
  
"Log 8, Day 42. After several tests we believe we've created a 'system' to control the Gear DNA, the prototype is ready and will inject it into a new embryo tomorrow."  
  
"Log 9, Day 43. Everything went smoothly today, the embryo accepted the 'system' and in two days we'll see if the embryo is stable."  
  
"Log 10, Day 45. The embryo is still alive and is growing well."  
  
"Log 11, Day 48. The 'system' has mutated and we were forced to abort. Instead of controlling the Gear DNA, it manipulated it and took control and 'enhanced' the DNA. The embryo grew unstable and was terminated. We'll have to create a new 'system' to replace or control the other from its necrosis behavior."  
  
"Log 12, Day 58. A new 'system' was created, currently testing how the systems react to one another."  
  
"Log 13, Day 59. The 'systems' appose each other greatly, but neither one has over come the other, we'll see how they react with one another inside the embryo."  
  
"Log 14, Day 60. The embryo became instantly dehydrated and became dormant. Something went wrong with the second system and we're currently working on ways to fix it."  
  
"Log 15, Day 65. The second system seems to feed off of water molecules, currently working on using water magic to fix the problem."  
  
"Log 16, Day 73. We've managed to successfully integrate water magic into the second system, it feeds off of it and with further tests, it won't feed off of other water sources."  
  
"Log 17, Day 75. Injection of the 'systems' into another embryo has started, hopping for the best next week."  
  
"Log 18, Day 82. The embryo is stable and is growing well. The embryo will be planted into a mother and, with some luck, we could be in the final process."  
  
"Log 19, Day 147. The embryo has fully developed, it a girl. From scan data from the mother, the child will be born any day now."  
  
"Log 20, Day 151. The mother gave birth to the hybrid. The eyes of the hybrid were spinning after the birth, temporary side affect. Because of this, we've adequately called her Dizzy. If the hybrid's grown pattern continues she should be an adult within three years and be ready for training."  
  
Dizzy's eyes grew wide, they were talking about her. This lab, she was born here. She was a science experiment. She didn't recognize any of the scientists, she only remembers living with her grandparents during her childhood, what happened to her and the people here?  
  
"Log 21, Day 152. The hybrid is missing. We're currently under lockdown and are investigating the matter. We suspect a traitor."  
  
"Log 22, Day 153. One of our scientists is missing. We believe she took the hybrid for reasons unknown, HQ is currently handling the investigation. We have unthawed the last embryo and begun working on it."  
  
"Log 23, Day 154. The base is under attack, if this continues we'll lose the last embryo. We expect that the attack is from the IPF or the PWAB. If they get past the gates we'll all be either arrested or killed. Many of the scientists have moved into the–" A large explosion happened across the room, it was the door being blown off. A couple of fast figures emerged from the doorway and were circling the room. Screams fill the room as the figures quickly detained the scientists and Professor Allens. One of the figures was still standing by the door, as the smoke cleared it revealed a man with red hair and yellow coat with a black trim. He approached Allens who was being held by a blonde man in a white and blue coat who was faced away from the display.  
  
The red haired man looked around the room and then at Allens, "Dear me, you have been busy Professor Allens." He said with a smile, "Don't you know making Gears is a serious crime? What would the IPF think about this?"  
  
"So you're from the PWAB, I should have known, was that traitor that escaped with our hybrid your doing?" Allens said.  
  
The man's smile faded, "Traitor? Hybrid?" The man thought for a second, "You mean you've already created a Commander Gear and now someone in your ranks stole it?"  
  
"Then it wasn't you?" Allens asked.  
  
"Well if that's the case, then there really isn't a reason to keep you alive." The man turned away back to the door, "Kill them and destroy the evidence." He said and the blonde man that was holding Allens took out his sword and stabbed him. He then took Allens and threw him backwards towards the display.  
  
There was a loud crack as the scientist hit the display and blood escaped out of his shattered body. At that time the display flickered off, now displaying 'Last Recorded File'.  
  
Dizzy was covering her mouth, she couldn't believe what all she saw. All of this, her birth, her existence, everything was hitting her at once. "Am I an experiment?" Too many questions were hitting her at once, she couldn't think straight and had to lie down, she fell to the ground still staring up at the display and the dry blood covering it.  
  
As she contemplated these thoughts a voice from behind her spoke, "So, we've finally found you Dizzy." She jumped realizing there was someone else in the room with her. She turned to see who it was.

* * *

Testament made his way through the forest, searching for any sign of Dizzy. He called out to her ever so often, but didn't get a respond.  
  
"If she's hurt I'll never forgive that pirate." He thought as his search was going nowhere. The crow on his shoulder let out a loud caw that snapped Testament out of his deep thinking. "What's gotten into you?" he asked the crow.  
  
He looked around and realized that if he took another step he would have fallen into a hole that was in the ground. It looks like a cave in of some kind, there was a rope tied to a near by tree and went into the hole. He looked around the surface of the hole and noticed some green and white feathers around the entrance. Dizzy was down there, and someone else.


	3. Innocence: Conflict Rising

"So we finally found you, Dizzy." The voice from behind her said.  
  
Dizzy turned around and a saw that it was the same man that attack the lab three years ago. The man was also accompanied by four blonde men in white and blue coats. As Dizzy looked at them she noticed that the blonde men weren't really men at all, but looked exactly like that robot that she tried to fix.  
  
"You're the man who destroyed this place, why did you kill all of those innocent people?" Dizzy asked.  
  
"How did you know...," The man looked up at Dizzy and saw the computer still displaying its final message 'Last Recorded File', he shook his head. "So, the old bastard was recording it. It doesn't matter now, what matters is you."  
  
"What do you want from me, who are you?"  
  
"My name is Janus, I've been looking for you. You're the escaped hybrid, the one heir to the Gears, a Commander Gear."  
  
Dizzy looked confused, "I don't understand."  
  
"You will soon enough," He pointed at the robot to his left. "You, go." The robot nodded to the command and pulled out his sword. "Let's see how you do in battle."  
  
"I don't wish to fight you, please stay back." Dizzy pleaded.  
  
"I'm afraid you don't have that choice." Janus snapped his finger and the robot lunged at Dizzy.  
  
The robot approached her with great haste, Dizzy screamed as the robot drew near and raised his sword at her ready to make an attack. A large runic symbol appeared below the robot, suddenly the robot seemed to drop into the ground where the runic laid. A large coffin appeared from out of it, the front was decorated with a woman with one arm. Dizzy's green wing engulfed her as she transformed into a large cloaked figure with a bow. The figure drew his bow and shot three arrows aimed at the coffin. They collided with it, shattering the contents of the coffin, parts of the robot that was sealed inside flew all over the room.  
  
Upon the destruction of their brother, the others jumped back a little, their eyes were flashing. "CALCULATING-SPIRITUAL-POTENTIAL......OUT-OF-RANGE! DANGER!"  
  
"Yes, you're the Princess of the Gears," Janus said with a smile to his face. "I've waited such a long time for this." He pointed back at the three robots, "All of you! Attack as one!" The robots looked at each other then back at their master, they were a little hesitant of the command but soon nodded to his request.  
  
Two of the robots headed in opposite directions, they were going to attack from the sides. The other one lunged itself towards Dizzy, it started to jump in the air, trying to avoid repeating what happen to its brother.  
  
Dizzy's white wing took on the form of a young woman. The woman twisted her wrist and summoned a spear that went flying towards the robot in the air. The robot was unable to avoid the attack and the spear collided with it, sending it flying back to where it came from. The robot hit the ground hard on its back and slid past Janus and collided with the wall.  
  
The two on each of her sides began to flank Dizzy. She jumped away just in time as the robots past each other, missing their target. Undine appeared again and summoned a large piranha-like monster made of ice and spikes that flew towards one of the robots and bit into its side. The robot started to make weird sounds, as if screaming in pain, as the monster dug into the robot's side.  
  
The unwounded one turned around in an instant and made its second attack on Dizzy. Undine once again appeared and pointed at the ground. A giant shard of ice erupted from the ground, the robot anticipated a ground attack and skillfully dodged it. The robot swung his sword towards Dizzy, she managed to jump back in time, the robot continued its assault and swung its sword again and again. Dizzy continued to dodge under the blade, barely avoiding the robot's attacks. The robot began to swing its sword above its head, in mid attack though, Necro appeared, and with even greater speed, swung a giant axe at the robot. The axe hit it directly and sent it to the ground. The robot shattered in pieces as it hit the ground.  
  
The last robot managed to fend of the ice monster and lunged towards Dizzy, she was being preoccupied by its brother. It readied it sword for a direct attack, Dizzy still had her back to the robot. As the robot attacked, Dizzy's arm transformed into a deformed claw and grabbed the head of the robot behind her. The claw's force ripped the head of the robot clean off and its body fell to the ground, Dizzy let go of the head and her arm transformed back.  
  
She looked around and saw the destruction that she caused. Thousands of pieces that were part of the robots laid scattered over the floor of the laboratory. Janus, still standing by the door, begun to clap. "Excellent, just excellent!" He stopped leaning on the side of the doorway, "You're just as powerful as I hoped you'd be!" Janus slowly began to walk towards Dizzy.  
  
"Why are you doing this to me?" Dizzy, still confused by the man's actions.  
  
"That was a test of your power, and you passed with flying colors," Janus reached behind his back and revealed a double bladed sword, he took into his hands and out in front of him, he was getting ready to attack. "But now you face me, and unlike those stupid RKs, I won't fall to pieces with a single hit."  
  
"I'm warning you, stay away! I don't want to hurt anyone!" Dizzy screamed at the man.  
  
Janus chuckled at her comment, "Like I said before, you don't have choice!" He started to move forward to attack when something caught his eye. A crow flew into the room and circle around his head, it was squawking madly towards him.  
  
"I suggest you'd stop at what you're attempting to do and leave her alone." A voice from behind Janus said.  
  
Janus turned around and saw the humanoid Gear, Testament standing in doorway. "Testament!" Dizzy said, happy to see him.  
  
Testament held his hand towards Dizzy, "Stay back Dizzy, I'll handle this human." He then summoned a red scythe, preparing to fight with Janus.  
  
"Damn, I didn't expect you to show up, and just when I thought everything was going my way." Janus then smiled at Testament, "But I always expect the worst." He then took out a small device, it was a remote of some kind. He pushed one of the buttons on it and the robot that cashed near the door exploded. The explosion blew Testament away from the door and across the room, he hit the ground hard a slid for a few feet.  
  
"Testament!" Dizzy yelled as she ran over to him to see if he was alright.  
  
Janus took the opportunity and made his way to the doorway, he turned back and looked towards Dizzy. "We'll meet again, you can count on that!" He ran into the darkness of the hallway, disappearing for her sight.  
  
"Testament are you ok?" Dizzy kneed next to him, checking to see if he was hurt.  
  
"Damn dirty human! Using cheap tricks to flee." Testament growled as he saw the man escape. He picked himself off the ground, a little stunned from the explosion, but not injured. "Are you alright Dizzy?"  
  
"Yes, I'm fine. What about you, you're not hurt are you?"  
  
"No, who was that man? What was he trying to do to you?"  
  
"He said his name was Janus and that he's been looking for me. He came in with those mechanical people and attacked me."  
  
Testament looked at the shattered bodies of the fallen Robo Kys and soon recognized them, they were the pawns the Post War Admin. Bureau. "What was the PWAB doing here? Are they beginning to move again?" Testament thought, he then looked back at Dizzy. "Well, your safe now Dizzy."  
  
Dizzy and Testament left the lab and back in the forest. It was almost dark, they started to walk down one of the trails as Dizzy explained to him about what happened on the Mayship and the woman in red.  
  
"...and then I fell into that lab and that man showed up." Dizzy said.  
  
"I knew I shouldn't have left you in the custody of those humans, you could have been seriously hurt!"  
  
"The Jellyfish are nice people, it's not their fault I fell. I just lost my balance."  
  
Testament started to calm down, "So...you're happy with them?"  
  
Dizzy nodded, "Yes, they're really fun to be with, and Johnny is very kind."  
  
Testament sneered slightly at Johnny's name, but for Dizzy's sake he didn't say anything. "Well if you ever need to return to the forest, I'll be there protecting it for you."  
  
Dizzy smiled and hugged Testament, "Thank you, Testament."  
  
As the two walked they could here someone yelling, they stopped to listen. The voice was getting closer and the person was yelling for Dizzy.  
  
"That's May!" Dizzy said as her eyes lit up with excitement.  
  
"Well, I'd best be leaving." Testament said, making his way deeper into the forest.  
  
Dizzy turned back to him, "Why don't you stay and say hello?"  
  
Testament shook his head, "No that's alright, I've already said my hellos." Dizzy looked at him a little confused, "Farewell and take care Dizzy." He waved to her and continued walking.  
  
"I'll visit you soon, ok!" Dizzy shouted to Testament who was only a silhouette before he was completely gone. Dizzy turned and saw her orange pirate friend running towards her.  
  
"Hey it's Dizzy! Dizzy!" May shouted as she reached her. A couple of the other girls came up behind her, all excited to see their friend safe and well.  
  
"May! Where's Johnny and the Mayship?"  
  
"Everyone's back at the ship, come on! We'll take you back!" May grabbed Dizzy's arm and pulled her back to the way she came. The girls all gathered around Dizzy as they made their journey back to the ship.

* * *

A Helicopter flew over the forest, inside was Janus frustrated after the days events. "Damn it!" He hit the side of the wall with his fist.  
  
Inside, besides Janus, was the pilot, Gregory. "Not everything go the way you planed Janus?" Gregory said sarcastically.  
  
Janus held two of his fingers out an inch apart from each other, "I was this close! This close! And then that damn Gear showed up and ruined everything!" He closed his eyes and held his hand against his forehead.  
  
Gregory chuckled at Janus's outburst, "You know, remind me of the boy with a handful of sand. The boy scooped up the sand, with his hand relaxed he could hold it all. But when he tightens his grip, the sand slipped away."  
  
Janus always looked up to Gregory as a mentor, he was older and wiser than him and he showed him the ropes when he joined the PWAB. He was always so cool and precise, and these word games were just his style of trying to teach him something. But after a day like today, Janus didn't feel like playing word games.  
  
Janus lifted his hand and glared back at his friend, "Your point is?"  
  
He laughed again, "The point is you tried to capture your target too quickly, you should have evaluated the situation and took the time to come up with a plan." Gregory could see Janus was still frustrated, "Plus, I doubt you've could have taken the Gear on by yourself."  
  
That got Janus's full attention, "And what makes you think that?"  
  
"Well, Stan and James told me on the radio how she single-handily took out four RKs, and forgive me if I'm wrong, you're out of practice."  
  
"Those stupid Robo Kys are completely useless! They didn't even touch the girl...but, it has been about seven years since I took up my blade. I still practice every now and then," He sat back looking out the window, "But in the heat of battle, and when faced with a difficult opponent, old habits die hard."  
  
"Do you miss your old job?"  
  
Janus shook his head, "No, less pay and more risk didn't suit me. And I heard the organization is falling apart. Hmm..."  
  
"So, are we heading back to home base?" Gregory glanced back at Janus, he was thinking deeply about something, "Did you hear what I said?"  
  
Janus snapped out of his thoughts, "Yes...and yes, but when we land, make preparations for another trip."  
  
"Oh? And where are you going in such a hurry?"  
  
"To see an old friend."

* * *

_"...we've been assigned to create the first human-Gear hybrid."  
  
"...working on the hybrid using a human's and Justice's DNA."  
  
"...we've adequately called her Dizzy."  
  
"...she should be an adult within three years and be ready for training."  
  
"I've been looking for you. You're the escaped hybrid, the one heir to the Gears, a Commander Gear."_  
  
"Nooo!"  
  
Dizzy jumped out of her sleep, she was breathing heavily from the nightmare she had. The thoughts kept coming back to her, how she was made and why that man was tracking her. She didn't tell anyone about what she saw down in the lab, not even Testament. She needed to find out more. More about her origins, she remembered that the Gear DNA that was used to make her was from another Commander Gear called Justice. Dizzy didn't know much about Justice or the Gears and the Crusades, just that Justice led the Gears in a war against the human race.  
  
She got out of bed, she need to think about something else. The more she tried, the more she wanted answers. She made her way to the cafeteria to grab a midnight snack. As Dizzy made her way down the corridor she could hear someone else in the cafeteria. She looked and didn't see any lights on, did someone sneak in again, maybe it was that man again or the woman in red?  
  
She cautiously entered the cafeteria, looking around for any intruders. She heard another noise by the fridge, she walked over but didn't see anyone there. "Hello? Is someone there?"  
  
A hand fell on her shoulder, "Dizzy?"  
  
"Ahh!" Dizzy turned around and her winged guardians showed up, ready to make an attack. She couldn't see the person touched her, she twisted her head back and forth looking for the person.  
  
The lights came on, "Woah! Take it easy Dizzy! It's me, Johnny!" He had his hands up, a little frightened at Dizzy's sudden defensive behavior.  
  
Dizzy let her wings down and breathed a sigh of relief, "You scared me Johnny."  
  
"Hey, you scared me too, what are you doing up so late?"  
  
"I couldn't sleep. What are you doing up Johnny?"  
  
Johnny scratched the back of his head, Dizzy noticed that he wasn't wearing his sunglasses or his hat and that this was the first time she could really see his face, "Oh, I was just sneaking in here to grab some cherry pie before bed." He made his way over to the fridge and opened to reveal the pie and set it on the counter. He started to grab a plate and he turned to Dizzy, "You want a piece?"  
  
Dizzy nodded, "Sure, I came down here for snack." She made her way over to one of the tables as Johnny grabbed two plates and put a piece of pie on each one and made his way to where Dizzy was sitting.  
  
He sat down across from her and took a bite out of the pie, "Mmm, that's good stuff. You've made this pie before haven't you Dizzy?"  
  
Dizzy was looking at her pie slice, she still hadn't taken a bite of it yet. She looked up when Johnny said her name, "Huh?" Dizzy blinked and looked at him, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"  
  
Johnny was about to take another bite when he could see something was troubling her, he put his fork down. "Is something the matter Dizzy?"  
  
"Yeah, but it's complicated." She looked down at her pie again, still not eating it.  
  
"You want to talk about it?"  
  
"It's just...well..." Dizzy struggled with what she wanted to say, should she tell Johnny what happened? Maybe she can solve this herself, but she needed to find out more about the past, with the Gears. "I'd like to know more about the Gears and their origin."  
  
"Family history eh? Well, it's pretty dark, you know, with the Crusades and all?"  
  
"I was born after them, but I've only heard a little from Testament, he didn't like talking about them."  
  
"I imagine not, the guy's got secrets, probably didn't want you to know about that part of his life."  
  
"It just, do you know of any books or recordings of Gear history?"  
  
"Unfortunately no. There was very little history recorded during the Crusades and all documents on Gears I imagine are top secret and locked up somewhere."  
  
Dizzy lowered her head, a little disappointed at what Johnny said, "Oh...I see."  
  
Johnny felt bad for her, she was a Gear after all, but she doesn't know anything about them. Why people hate them, why they were made, the Crusades, there was a lot she didn't know, or Johnny for that fact. Johnny wanted to do something for her, he then thought of something, "But," Johnny started to say.  
  
Dizzy looked up at him again, waiting for him to finish his sentence.  
  
"We are a group of pirates after all, we could 'liberate' this information from certain some ones if you know what I mean?"  
  
Dizzy's eyes started to light up, "Really? I mean, is that right though?"  
  
Johnny flailed his hands in the air, "Hey we're pirates! Right and wrong have no effect on us, just taking and running."  
  
Dizzy laughed a little at Johnny's example, he smiled knowing that cheered her up.  
  
"Tell you what, we'll be in the air tomorrow and if I find anything out about where we can find what you're looking for, we'll fly right on over and get you what you need."  
  
Dizzy smiled again, "Thank you, Johnny."  
  
"You're family and we look out for our own." Johnny picked his fork back up, "Now let's eat some pie and get a good nights rest." Dizzy nodded and they both took a bite of pie.


	4. Innocence: An Old Friend

"8-ball, corner pocket." Said the billiards player as he pointed his pool stick to the pocket in question. He lined up his shot and hit que ball into the side of the pool table, travel between two other balls, and hit the 8 ball which sent it into its chosen pocket.  
  
The man pumped his fist as the ball went in, "Yes! I win, pay up!"  
  
His opponent, grumbled at first, took out his wallet and paid the man his winnings. "You're too good for me, where'd you learn to play like that?"  
  
"Oh I get around a lot, so I pick up a few tricks every where I go." He grabbed the money out of the man's hand and held it above his head, he turned towards the bar, "Hey! Barkeep! Another drink for me!"  
  
The bartender was wiping off the counter and looked up towards the man, "You know, you have a tab you haven't paid yet Axl, how's about doing with your money huh?"  
  
The young British man, Axl Low, had long blonde hair that was covered with a bandana around his head. Axl waved his hand back at him, "Oh come on! You know I'm good for it, just look at the killing I'm making here!" He waved his arm around the bar, "No one here has beaten me, and I challenge anyone to try and take my title away!" Axl looked around the bar and no one really took notice of his challenge, failing at getting attention, he walked over and sat down at the bar. "So, where's that drink?"  
  
"You'd better pay this time or I'm going to have to kick you out."  
  
"Yeah! Yeah! Less talking more poring!" The bartender turned around and began to make Axl's drink.  
  
"Why do I keep wasting my money like this?" Axl began to think to himself, "It's getting harder and harder for me to get money. I can't even hold a job because of my stupid time-slipping problem! I have to resort to quick cash solutions like this to pay the bills." The bartender turned around with Axl's drink, as he reached for it the bartender kept it just out of his reach, he had his other hand out.  
  
"Money?"  
  
"Sheesh! Alright already!" Axl handed him the money for the drink and took it, drinking it in one shot. "Ah, that hits the spot," He looked back up at the bartender, "Does anyone good come in here to play? I feel like I'm taking candy from a baby."  
  
The bartender began to clean one of the glasses left on the bar, "Well, there is one guy I saw in here that looked like a professional player. But he keeps to himself and I never really see him play with anyone." He put the glass down and pointed to a corner booth in the back, "He's over there."  
  
Axl glanced over where the bartender pointed and could make out a man with white hair and an equally white suit on, he was reading a book and had a strange looking case on the floor next to him. Axl put his glass down on the bar, "Well, I guess I'll go and have a little chat with him." He made his way over to the man.  
  
Axl walked next to the man and saw that his hair covered his face, it had a weird eye symbol dyed into it. He chuckled a little at the sight of him, "How do you read with a hair cut like that?"  
  
The man continued to read, he flicked to the next page as he ignored Axl.  
  
Axl sat down across from the man in the booth, "Hey buddy, it's rude to ignore me, didn't your mother ever teach you any manners."  
  
The man put his book down and combed his hair back, revealing his face. He had bright blue eyes and a slender black face. "I grew up without a mother. Now leave me alone."  
  
"Geez, don't get all defensive, I'm just trying to get your attention." Axl looked down at the case and tapped it with his foot, "What's in the case? It looks like a pool que case."  
  
The slender man was a little irritated as Axl touched his case, "You guess correctly."  
  
Axl smiled, "So that means you play billiards right? How's about a game?"  
  
The man picked his book back up, "I'm afraid you're out of my league, go play with someone else."  
  
Axl let out a little laugh, "Oh come on, you can't be that bad, having a custom stick? Why won't you play, are you intimidated by my skills?"  
  
This time the man closed his book, he crossed his hands and stared hard into Axl's eyes, "Obviously you've misunderstood me, I'm saying I'm better than you."  
  
Axl smile faded a little, "You wanna bet?"  
  
"Name your price."  
  
"500."  
  
"Done."  
  
The man stood up from the booth and grabbed his case and made his way over to one of the pool tables in the bar. Axl jumped out of the booth and made his way over to man, "The name's Axl by the way, what's yours?" He held out his hand.  
  
"Venom." The man said, not returning the gesture. He opened his case and revealed a two parts of a pool que that was white with a blue tip and handle, Venom assembled it and held it in his hands.  
  
Axl lowered his hand and walked over and grabbed one of the sticks off the wall, "Man, what's this guy's deal?" He asked himself. By the time he turned around the man had already set the table. "Wow, that was fast." Axl walked back, "Since I'm nice, I'll let you break."  
  
"That would be a big mistake."  
  
"Man this guy's really arrogant!" He thought, "No, I insist, it's your honor."  
  
Venom shrugged his shoulders and lined up his shot, he looked around the table a little, finally as he was making his shot he said, "8 ball, right side pocket."  
  
"Huh?" Axl started to say when Venom made his shot. All the balls started to fly around the table, many of them started to go in the holes. Axl watch in awe as he noticed all the balls were going in the hole, except for the que ball and 8 ball, which now, ricocheted off the side, hit each other, and caused the 8 ball to fall into the right side pocket, leaving the que ball in the center of the table.  
  
"Holy crap." Axl said as he dropped his stick onto the ground.  
  
Venom looked towards Axl, "I told you that was a bad mistake, but unless you could do that, which judging by your reaction you cannot, you'd have stood no chance against me even if you went first." He held his hand out, "five hundred was the bet."  
  
Axl shook his head, "Ok Mr. Hotshot, how 'bout we double our wager and play a different game." He took out two sickles connect by a long chain from under his jacket, "You game?"  
  
"Once again, that would be a big mistake."  
  
"Why you!" Axl began.  
  
"Axl!" The bartender shouted, "Your not going to start another bar fight are you!?"  
  
"Don't worry about me barkeep," He looked back at Venom, "Now defend yourself!"  
  
"I am." Venom said as he held out his pool stick as a weapon.  
  
Axl released his fighting stance, "You're going to fight me with a stick?" He began to laugh, "Oh that's rich!"  
  
"Don't be so quick to judge!" Vemon said as he lunged towards Axl, swinging his pool que.  
  
Axl quickly dodged, "Woah! You're not kidding around!"  
  
Venom spun around a waved his hand in the air, as he gestured his hand, a pool ball appeared in mid air. He hit it with his stick causing it to fly towards Axl.  
  
"Shit!" Axl jumped behind the pool table as the ball smashed into the wall, going all the way through.  
  
At this time, most of the people in the bar were running to safety from the bar fight. The panicked people were knocking over tables and chairs as they scrabbled for the door. "Oh! Now look what you've done to my bar!" The bartender complained as the fight continued.  
  
Axl still crouched under the table, "Ok, I've underestimated this guy, he's really good at fighting too." He lifted his head and saw the man make a second ball and sent it straight from him, he rolled to the other side as the ball smashed through the table and into the ground. "Really underestimated him, what next?"  
  
Venom jumped across the table and confronted Axl. A small blue vortex started to form at Axl's feet, "Ah, not again." He was sucked into it, vanishing from the bar. Venom jumped back a little and looked around the bar. He couldn't sense him anymore, was this some kind of trap he thought?  
  
"He's gone." The bartender said to Venom, "He does that every so often, just ends up disappearing for no reason." He made his way over to where people knocked over chairs in their escape from the fight and began to turn them back up, "It's really annoying too, he'll do it when I'm pressuring him to pay." He finished setting the chairs back, "So, you going to pay for what you did to my bar?"  
  
Venom let his guard down and just stared at the bartender, and started to take apart his pool stick, "Ok, I'll take that as a no." The bartender started to pick up the mess and looked up and saw a man standing near the entrance, "Well it good to see I still have one more customer left, can I get you anything?"  
  
"No thanks, I came to for him." The man pointed at Venom, "You're still the same after all these years, Venom." The man walked closer to him, "It's been a long time."  
  
Venom finished packing his pool stick into his case as he looked up at the man, "Yes it has, Janus."  
  
Janus walked made his way over to one of the booths and sat down, "Come, sit down with me, let's reminisce."  
  
Venom walked over to the booth and sat across from Janus, "Why are you here? You left the assassins a long time ago."  
  
"Oh come on, can't a student look up his tutor after seven years?"  
  
Venom just stared at him blankly, "There's more to this then just visiting."  
  
Janus pointed at Venom, "And that's what I liked about you, you could always tell when someone wasn't being completely truthful."  
  
"Just answer the question, why have you come?"  
  
"Well, to be blunt, I have a contract for you."  
  
"Surely there are other assassins that could do the job."  
  
Janus shook his head, "No, this requires a special touch, someone of your skills."  
  
"What's the target?"  
  
"A member of the Jellyfish Pirates."  
  
"I don't kill little girls, unless of course you're talking about the captain?"  
  
"No, and you won't have to kill her, we just want you to kidnap her."  
  
Venom raised an eyebrow, "Who's we?"  
  
"That's none of your concern, will you do it?"  
  
"I don't baby sit."  
  
"And you won't, we just want you to bring her to near by location and hand her over. We're willing to pay you your full fee."  
  
"Money doesn't interest me."  
  
"I thought you might say that," Janus started to pull out file, "So I thought you might find this more interest." He held up the file, it said 'Zato-1, Top Secret' on the front.  
  
Venom looked curiously at the file, "What is that?"  
  
Janus sat the file on the table, continuing to hold it down with his hand, "A file that tells the location and whereabouts of your missing leader," Janus shrugged, "Or what's left of him."  
  
Venom reached for the file, "Let me see that."  
  
Janus took the file back, and shook his finger, "Uh-uh, not until you agree to contract."  
  
Venom sat back and thought for a moment, "Alright, full payment, only if the information on Zato is correct."  
  
"Oh it is, you can trust me on that," He handed the file, along with another one and a phone, to Venom. "In there gives you all the information for the mission and the phone is for us to contact you to give you the current location of the Mayship and updates." Janus took out another file, "And, if you succeed you'll get a bonus." He showed the file, this time it said 'Millia Rage, Top Secret' on it. He flashed it in front of Venom long enough to get his attention and took it back, "Only if you succeed."  
  
"I don't fail. You'll have your girl, you can count on that." Venom said as he put away the files and phone given to him. He stood up and picked up his case.  
  
Janus looked up at him, "I know, that's why it had to be you, you don't believe in failure." Venom took his leave, "We'll call you with the details shortly!" Janus said as he made his way out of the bar.  
  
Janus continued to sit at the booth, he heard a beeping noise, he picked up his phone and answered it. "Janus here...Yes, he did take the bait...... He couldn't resist it after I showed him the files......Yes, my plan is going smoothly, with any luck the Gear will be ours......Alright, come pick me up then, we need to get going.........Ok, see you soon Gregory."  
  
He put the phone away and he clapped his hands. "Oh, bartender! I think I'll have that drink now." 


	5. Innocence: Girls' Night Out

The Mayship was once again in the air and soared through the clouds. It was a real hassle to get the big ship moving again, they barely had the proper parts to fix the engine. But the main mechanic, Novel, managed to fix the ship so that the crew could make it to their next destination, which was Paris. There they would pick up the proper engine parts need to fix the ship completely.  
  
Dizzy walked down the corridor with her friends April and May, May was telling Dizzy about the events when she was absent.  
  
"...And then that crazy woman started blowing everything up!" May said as she was flailing her arms out, "By the time the smoke cleared she was gone."  
  
"Well it's good that everyone managed to land the ship safely, no one was hurt during the crash were they?" Dizzy asked.  
  
"No, only April was hurt, she said she was cut by a ghost." May turned to April, "Oooohhh...I'm the ghost of the laundry room!"  
  
April looked frustrated with May's imitation of a ghost, "I'm telling you it was a ghost! It was all white, had yellow glowing eyes, and a creepy voice. It threatened me with some kind of sword and asked me where the deck was."  
  
May waved her off, "Yeah yeah, whatever. So Dizzy what happened to you? You went to bed so early we couldn't talk to you."  
  
"Well, when I fell..." Dizzy started, when Johnny came around the corner. May ran off to meet up with him.  
  
"Johnny!" May yelled.  
  
"Don't you ever get tired of greeting me like this?" Johnny asked as the young pirate as she ran up to him.  
  
May shook her head, "Nope, never for my favorite captain!"  
  
Dizzy and April looked back at each other with a 'here we go again' look.  
  
"Where are we heading to next?" May asked.  
  
"Well we're heading to Paris and..." Johnny started.  
  
"PARIS!! That's great! There's so much cool stuff there!" May ran back over to the girls, "We can go shopping and," She looked towards Dizzy, "We can show you all the cool little thrift shops there and..."  
  
"Hold it." Johnny said stopping May's sentence.  
  
"What is it Johnny?" May asked.  
  
"I don't think it's a good idea to have Dizzy go out when we get there. Dizzy said she was attacked by someone..."  
  
"You were attacked!? Who? Why?" May said as she looked back from Johnny to Dizzy.  
  
"Yes by a man named Janus, he said he was looking for me, I don't know why." Dizzy said to her excited friend.  
  
"Well that happened back in your hometown, we'll be on the other side of the world, you should be fine."  
  
"I just don't want to put Dizzy into any more danger as is right now, who knows how they found her, they could have people all over the world, how else could they have found her so fast? I just want to play it safe and keep her out of the public eye until the whole thing blows over." Johnny explained to May.  
  
"But we're going to Paris! We rarely get to visit! We could keep her hidden," May said as she grabbed April's arm, "She can were her cloak and no one will recognize her."  
  
"We just can't do that May, Paris is a big city and anything can go wrong while we're there. Plus, we're only stay for a short while, Novel and I have to go pick up parts for the Mayship and then we plan to get out before anyone notices us, this isn't a pleasure stop."  
  
"But Johnny!" May said as she jumped up and down.  
  
Johnny held out his finger, "No buts May, we'll have another time to visit, just not now. Now, if you'll excuse me, its time for breakfast." Johnny said as he walked off.  
  
Johnny disappeared from the girls' view as he made his way around the corner, "That's not fair!" May said stomping her foot, "Dizzy, you have to see Paris, it's one of the coolest places we travel to!"  
  
"Well Johnny said that we couldn't and we're not staying long." Dizzy said to her friend, "Besides he said we would visit again."  
  
"Yeah but 'visit again' could mean a year!" May proclaimed.  
  
"Well there's nothing we can do about it May so don't get all worked up." April explained to her frustrated friend.  
  
"I guess you're right." May said lowering her head.  
  
April put her hand on her friend's shoulder, "Come on May, let's go to the cafeteria for breakfast, I'm starving." The three girls walked down the corridor, heading for the cafeteria. Most of the crew was already eating at the tables, the girls got their trays of food and sat down.  
  
One of the other girls, June, sat down with May when she saw them come in. "Hey, did you hear we're going to Paris?"  
  
"Yeah, but Johnny said Dizzy can't go?" May said angrily.  
  
"Why not?" June asked as she looked to Dizzy.  
  
Dizzy explained to her the situation of her house arrest.  
  
"Well that's a little over protective don't you think, what are the chance of that happening again?" June said after Dizzy's explanation.  
  
"That's what I said!" May shouted.  
  
"I don't mind, Johnny's just worried about me." Dizzy said.  
  
June looked around then back at the girls with her voice lowered, "You know, you could just sneak out while Johnny's away."  
  
"You think we could get away with that?" May asked.  
  
"Yeah of course, I can keep you covered while you take Dizzy out."  
  
"I don't think that's a good idea," Dizzy said. "I don't want to do anything that would get us into trouble."  
  
May put her arm around Dizzy, "Oh come on, live a little, it why you're here isn't?"  
  
"Well..." Dizzy started.  
  
"You have to see Paris Dizzy! It's really fun, you'll miss out." April assured her.  
  
"It'll be alright Dizzy, like I said, I'll keep you guys covered while you're out. No one will know you're gone." June said.  
  
Dizzy gave up. "If you insist."  
  
"Yeah!" May shouted, a couple of the people in the cafeteria looked at her, "Oops, sorry. So when do you want to sneak out?"  
  
"You'll probably want leave after Johnny does, once he does you'll probably have about an hour or two before he get back." June said.  
  
"Alright! We'll sneak out tonight once we reach Paris, you won't regret this Dizzy!" May said. Dizzy assured her with a smile.

* * *

Testament was sitting on rock in the forest, contemplated on yesterday's events.  
  
_"What is the Postwar Bureau doing here? I thought they were disbanded after the Crusades."_  
  
Testament needed answers, but he didn't want to break his promise to Dizzy and leave the forest.  
  
_"Wait, maybe there's something in that lab that can help me."_  
  
He got up from his rock and tried to retrace his steps to the hole that led to the lab. After a bit of searching he managed to find it. The rope was still there and he made his way down into the dark under cove. When he reached the bottom he looked around, nothing out of the ordinary.  
  
He started to move towards the corridor that when he overheard something, a buzzing sound.  
  
"BZZZT, REQUESTING-UPDATE..."  
  
The sound was coming from something lying on the ground, Testament could make out a man in a white and blue coat on the ground, he was twitching and, sparking. Testament then realized it was one of the machines from the PWBA. The robot appeared to be smashed.  
  
"UPDATE-RECEIVED...RENDEZVOUS-IN-PARIS-TO-CAPTURE-THE- COMMANDER-GEAR."  
  
_"What!?"_  
  
The robot began to move around but was unable to get up, its arms and legs twist in weird directions as it tried.  
  
_"Damn! If the PWBA is after Dizzy, those pirates won't be able to protect her, I have to find her."_  
  
Testament made his way out of the cave and back into the forest. He would have to rely on human transportation to make it to Paris, he headed to the nearest town.  
  
_"I'm going to have to get there fast."_ He looked back as he left the forest, _"I'm sorry Dizzy, but you need me more than the forest."_

* * *

The Mayship landed near the outskirts of Paris. Johnny and Novel made there way outside.  
  
"We're going to have enough time for me to look at the other stuff they have, right Johnny?" Novel asked.  
  
"Sure, but I don't want to waste too much time, I'd like to get out of here by 10 if possible."  
  
The two made there way towards the city. Some of the crew waved them away as they departed. Part of this group was May, April, Dizzy, and June.  
  
June turned to the three girls, "Ok, now you should be alright if you leave in about ten minutes, its 7:00 right now, you should be back by 8:30 if you want to beat Johnny and Novel back to the ship."  
  
The girls nodded and waited for the time to pass. Once the time passed they departed the Mayship and made their way into Paris. The city was lit up with lights all around, it was looked as if the city was glowing. This was the first time Dizzy has ever visited a city of this size before, she was amazed at how beautiful it looked.  
  
"Didn't I tell you this would be cool Dizzy!" May said as she looked around the city.  
  
"Wow, I had no idea that it was this big! The city is so beautiful." Dizzy said as she admired their surroundings.  
  
April walked in between the two girls and put her arms around them, "So where do we want to go first?"  
  
May pointed her arm out, "To the nearest shopping center!"  
  
The girls giggled as they made their way down the street. After many shopping sprees later, April looked up a near by clock, it said 8:03. "Oh crap, we need to get back to the ship!"  
  
The three girls ran out of the store caring their shopping bags, they looked around, "Which way is the ship?" Dizzy asked.  
  
May took out a compass, she looked at it and then down one of the streets, "This way!" They ran down the street, after a little while they came to a T section.  
  
"Oh no, we need to go around!" April said.  
  
May looked and saw an alleyway, "Look! There's a shortcut, let got this way!" The three girls made their way into the alleyway, soon after they came to a dead end.  
  
April turned around, "Oh this is just perfect, good idea May, now we have to backtrack!"  
  
"How was I supposed to know that it would be a dead end!?" May said, frustrated at their current dilemma.  
  
"Well how were you supposed to know it wasn't!?"  
  
"Quiet! You want the whole city to hear you, this is getting us nowhere?" Dizzy said.  
  
"You girls lost?" A man from behind them said.  
  
The girls jumped and turned around to see there were two men in the alleyway with them, "Oh! You startled us! We just got turned around that's all." April said to the men.  
  
"What are you doing sneaking up on us like that!?" May asked rudely.  
  
The two men looked at each other and then back towards the girls, "You know it's dangerous to be wandering down alleyways, there are muggers all over the place."  
  
"Well thank you for your concern, we'll be sure to be more careful in the future." Dizzy said.  
  
"It's a little too late for that." The other man said. He grabbed Dizzy by the arm and pulled her next to him, he put a knife to her throat.  
  
"Dizzy!" April shouted.  
  
"Let her go you creeps!" May yelled.  
  
_"Release me."  
  
"No! Not here, not now."_  
  
"Give us your stuff and we might let her go." The man with the knife said.  
  
May and April threw their bags towards the men, the unarmed man took them and looked through them. He tossed them aside, "There's nothing in here worth anything, just trinkets and junk."  
  
"Maybe we should just keep the girl, she could fetch a price." The knife man said.  
  
"Let her go! We gave you are stuff!" April said.  
  
"Please let me go, I don't want to hurt you." Dizzy pleaded to the man.  
  
"Ha! You hurt me, I'm the one with the knife, I make the threats." He said as he pressed the knife closer to her neck.  
  
_"I can't hold back...much longer!"  
  
"Release me!"  
  
"I don't want to hurt anyone!"_  
  
"Why are you doing this!?" May shouted.  
  
The men ignored her pleas. "She is a good looking girl," The unarmed men said, "How much could she fetch?"  
  
"Probably 2000, maybe more," The other man said, "But I say we should have are fun with her first."  
  
"Don't you touch her!" May screamed.  
  
"What like this?" The knife man then licked the side of Dizzy's face.  
  
_"RELEASE ME!"  
_  
"AAAAHHHH!!" Dizzy screamed as she grabbed her head. The back of her cloak lifted up, knocking the knifed man away from her and onto the ground, as he fell the knife was knocked out of his hand and slid away from him. Her cloak flew off revealing her wings and tail. Her wings were out of control and flapping madly, especially her green one.  
  
"What the hell is that!?" The unarmed man yelled.  
  
Dizzy's green wing enveloped around her, shading her dark black for a brief moment. Dizzy's wings came to a halt, there was a dead silence as everyone in the alley looked at Dizzy. Dizzy opened her eyes, but they were different, they were glowing a bright red and had horizontal slit in the iris, much like a cat's eye. Dizzy looked back at her assailant.  
  
"KISSSSSHAAAAAAHH!" A loud roar came from Dizzy.  
  
"Ahhh! Let's get out of here!" The knife man yelled as he tried to get to his feet.  
  
Dizzy jumped towards the man, her hand turned into a claw and ripped into the man's chest, blood flew from the wound and onto the walls of the alleyway.  
  
"Holy shit!" The unarmed man screamed as he watched his friend being dismembered, he started to run away.  
  
Dizzy looked up at the escaping mugger. With great haste, she ran past him and blocked his way. The escaping man fell backwards, shocked at her sudden appearance.  
  
"Please no!" The men plead as he held his hand out in front of him.  
  
Dizzy's eyes continued to glow a deep crimson, "KILL! KILL!" She said with a demonic tone as her green wing wrapped around her arm and took the form of a dragon's head, the dragon then bit the man's head clean off, she tossed her trophy aside and looked for any more targets, her gaze met with April and May, who where in shock of Dizzy's outburst.  
  
"Dizzy stop!" May yelled.  
  
Dizzy walked slowly to the two, her eyes were still glowing a deep red shade.  
  
"Dizzy snap out of it!" April said.  
  
Dizzy raised her hand as it took the shape of a claw and was posing to strike them.  
  
"DIZZY!" May shouted as she slapped her. Dizzy held her other hand to her face, she opened her eyes, they were no longer glowing and were back to their regular round shape.  
  
Dizzy looked as if she was in a daze, "May?" She looked at her other hand that was still a claw, it was covered in blood. "What happened? I didn't..." She looked behind her and saw the two men from before, only they were dead. "No, no...No! I did this? I used my power?" Tears began to emerge from her eyes. She looked back at her friends, they didn't say anything, but their faces said it all. "Stay away from me!"  
  
Dizzy ran away, she couldn't stand the sight of what she'd done and having May and April bear witness to it. This was the first time May and April saw her Gear side. "Wait! Dizzy!" May and April shouted, "Come back!" She ignored them and continued to run down the alley.  
  
"Come on April, We have to catch her!" The two followed behind Dizzy's trail.

* * *

Venom looked at the massacre below him, he saw as one of the young girls killed their two assailants. The phone at his side began to buzz.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"What's your status?"  
  
"I have the girl in my sights."  
  
"Excellent, proceed as scheduled and meet us at the rendezvous point."  
  
"There's a problem."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"You didn't mention anything about a Gear."  
  
"That doesn't interfere with your mission does it?"  
  
"No, I just like to know everything that could arise during a mission."  
  
"Well now you know, we expect to see you soon."  
  
Venom put the phone away. He jumped over to the adjacent rooftop following behind the girls as he saw them run out of the alley. 


	6. Affliction: Lost To The Shadows

Venom followed the girls, running down the flat rooftops above the alley. He had to act now, this distraction was just what he needed. He opened his case and put his que stick together. The girl ahead of the other two ducked into a side alley, perfect. He was ready to strike and he couldn't ask for a better set up.

* * *

"Dizzy!" May said as she saw her run into a side alley, "She went to the left, hurry April!"  
  
May ran into the side alley, she didn't see Dizzy anywhere. She continued down it until she saw another dead end, but Dizzy wasn't anywhere to be seen.  
  
"Dizzy!" May shouted to the empty alley, "Where are you!?"  
  
May looked around the alley again, still no sight of Dizzy. She stopped to catch her breath when she could hear someone crying, it was close. She listened closer and noticed it was coming for behind one of the dumpsters in the corner near the dead end. May walked over to it, as she drew closer she saw Dizzy's boots. She ran over and saw Dizzy with her head in her knees and her arms crossed around her legs.  
  
"There you are Dizzy." May said as she reached to touch her.  
  
Dizzy looked up with tears flowing from her eyes. She flinched as May was about to touch her, "Don't touch me, get away!"  
  
May backed off a little to respect Dizzy's wishes, and also because May herself was a little afraid of Dizzy's actions. But, she wasn't going to let this stop her from trying to comfort her friend. "Dizzy, it's alright now, it's over."  
  
Dizzy continued to crying into her legs, "I killed them! They were alive and I killed them!" She said hysterically.  
  
May sat down in front of Dizzy, still keeping about an arm and a half lengths distance from her. "You were scared, they were going to...they..." May began to cry too, "They deserved it!" She screamed, "They were going to do terrible things to you! And possible us! If you hadn't done that we could be the ones lying dead in that alley!"  
  
Dizzy looked up at her friend, she'd never seen May sad before. She wanted to touch her but she looked at her hand that was covered in blood. "It's true what people say...all Gears are monsters, I'm a monster."  
  
"DON"T SAY THAT!" May shouted, "Don't you ever say that, you're not a monster Dizzy."  
  
Dizzy continued to look at her hand, "But I..."  
  
May got closer to Dizzy, they were almost face to face. Dizzy almost jumped at May's sudden movement. May looked into Dizzy's eyes. "You're not a monster Dizzy," May said while crying deeply, "You're my friend." She then reached out and hugged her.  
  
Dizzy wanted to scream at first, but May's embrace suddenly clamed her down. She didn't move for a moment, but then returned the affection. "Thank you, May."  
  
May backed up and wiped some of the tears out of her eyes, "Now, come on. We need to get back to the ship before everyone starts worrying about us." May got up and held out her hand to Dizzy. Dizzy was about to reach with her bloody hand, but retracted it and reached with her other. May lifted her off the ground.  
  
Dizzy stood up, and also wiped the tears out of her eyes, she looked at May and then down the alleyway, "Where's April?"  
  
May took her eyes off Dizzy and looked back the way she came, April wasn't there anymore. "She was right behind me I thought."  
  
They ran back to where the two alleys met and looked around, there was no sign of April. "April!" May shouted, but there was no answer. She listened and couldn't hear anything, she was gone.

* * *

Janus waited at the scheduled rendezvous point that he worked out with Venom. He was sitting in a limo along with Gregory. Outside was five Robo- Kys watching over the entire area. As they waited one of the RK came running from the horizon. It approached the door side where Janus was, he lowered the window.  
  
"SIR, A-MAN-IS-COMING-FROM-THE-EAST."  
  
Janus looked up and saw the figure coming their way, he was caring a person with them. "That's our man, stand down."  
  
"YES-SIR." The robot said and took off back to its sentry position.  
  
Venom made his way towards the limo, Janus got out to greet him.  
  
"Mission accomplished," Venom said. "With significant ease I might add."  
  
Janus waved over one of the Robo-Kys, it ran up to him in a second, "Take the girl."  
  
The machine nodded and Venom handed the unconscious pirate, April, over to it. It took April around the other side of the limo and placed her inside.  
  
"Well done, well done indeed! You had no troubles did you?" Janus said.  
  
Venom led out a small laugh, "They didn't even see me capture her, they're probably searching for her right now."  
  
Janus laughed, "Very good! As promised, here's your reward." He handed Venom a folder and an envelope. Venom took them, he opened the envelope revealing his pay for the job and then the folder which contained the information on Millia. "Everything to your satisfaction I hope?"  
  
"Yes, thank you." Venom said as he put them away. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have unfinished business I must attend to." He began to walk off.  
  
"Oh yes, of course. It was a pleasure doing business with you again."  
  
Venom just waved as continued to walk off the way he came. Janus entered the limo again. Gregory was in the driver's seat and looked back at him.  
  
"So that friend of yours is reliable, that didn't take him long to accomplish."  
  
"Yes, he is very good at what he does."  
  
"So do we begin Phase 2?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
Janus lowered his window and signaled over another RK, it was next to him in seconds. He looked up to it, "I want you to deliver a message for me."

* * *

Dizzy and May searched all over the alleyway, but there was still no sign of April. "Where could she have gone off to?"  
  
"Did she go back to the ship?" Dizzy asked.  
  
"Maybe, but she was right behind me, this is weird." May took one last look around the alley, "We need to get going, someone might catch us here, hopefully she's back at the ship."  
  
Dizzy nodded, they were about to go back to the streets, "Oh wait! I need my cloak." She turned to retrieve it from the other alley but then remembered that she left it where she killed the two men and stopped.  
  
May sensed Dizzy's distress and quickly acted, "Don't worry Dizzy, I'll get it for you." She ran back where the two men were and grabbed Dizzy's cloak that was lying on the ground. She made it back to her and handed it to Dizzy. Dizzy covered herself and the two made their way back to the ship.  
  
As they approached the Mayship they could make out someone waiting outside. It was a girl, maybe that's April, May thought. As they got closer she was disappointed to see it was June.  
  
"Sorry guys." June said as Dizzy and May approached her.  
  
"What for?" May asked.  
  
June pointed upwards towards the deck, they could make out Johnny leaning over the railing looking down at them. "May, Dizzy, get up here. We need to have a discussion."  
  
"Uh-oh." May said, she looked towards Dizzy, "Busted."  
  
The two entered the ship and up to the deck where Johnny was. As the two approached him, he took off his sunglasses, his eyes had a very serious look to them. He was very disappointed with them.  
  
"May I told you specifically that Dizzy was not to leave the ship. And then you sneak her out and are gone for almost half the night. You had me worried sick! June told me that you were supposed to be back an hour ago, I was about to send a party for you."  
  
"I'm sorry Johnny." May said sadly, the last thing she wanted to do was disappoint him.  
  
"I'm just glad you two are safe," Johnny said, "And where's April? I know she was part of this."  
  
"She didn't come back?" Dizzy asked.  
  
"No..." Johnny started and then noticed Dizzy's left hand was drenched in blood. "Dizzy what's wrong with you hand, is that blood?"  
  
Dizzy looked down and saw that her hand wasn't concealed by the cloak. She brought her hand out and looked at it, remembering how the blood got there. "This...I..." She stuttered as she tried to explain, but failed. The images of the dead men she killed started to flash in her head. Dizzy began to cry, before Johnny could say anything she ran back into the ship.  
  
"Wait, Dizzy! What's wrong?" Johnny shouted as she ran from out of his sights. He looked back at May who also began to tear up. "What happened?"  
  
May explained the whole situation of what happened to them, how they got lost, their attackers, Dizzy killing them, and April disappearing.  
  
May waited in silence for Johnny's response, His expression was both of shock and frustration. He turned away from her, he was struggling with what May had told him.  
  
"Johnny?" May asked, breaking the silence.  
  
"May, this is serious. I know it was in self defense, but be as it may, Dizzy's a Gear. If the police find her, she might be killed for what she did."  
  
"But that's not fair, it wasn't her fault!"  
  
"I know May, but the problem is trying to convince other people to believe that."  
  
"We can fly away! They won't find her if we leave!"  
  
Johnny shook his head, "We're still missing April, we can't leave until we find her." He took a deep breath, "All we can do is wait."  
  
"I never meant for any of this to happen." May said almost crying.  
  
"I know you didn't," Johnny said trying to calm her. "But I'm glad that you and Dizzy are safe, as for April, we can only hope that she returns safely." He put his hand on the young pirate's shoulders, "Now, I think you need to go find Dizzy, she must be pretty upset about what happened."  
  
"Yes, you're right Johnny." She said fighting back her tears. She made her way into the ship.  
  
Johnny watched as he saw the orange pirate disappear into the ship and turned back around and faced the city.  
  
_"The city of love, not tonight, no, tonight you show a different face."  
_  
As he looked at the city he noticed a figure walking towards the ship. Johnny made his way off the deck and outside, he could make out the figure, it wasn't April, it looked like a blonde haired man in a Holy Knight's uniform. Johnny recognized who that was, it was Ky Kiske, was he here for him, or Dizzy?  
  
As he drew closer he noticed there was something wrong with the way he walked, it was like he was dragging himself across the ground. His head was also sagging and he couldn't see his face. Johnny could also hear a strange buzzing sound coming of him.  
  
"Hey, you alright?" Johnny asked him.  
  
The figure looked up and revealed its metallic face and yellow glowing square eyes. Johnny jumped back a little, realizing it wasn't who he thought, although the resemblance was very similar.  
  
The thing spoke with a cracked and murmured voice, "ARE-YOU-JOHNNY-OF-THE-JELLYFISH-PIRATES?"  
  
"Who wants to know?" He asked the machine.  
  
"THE-CAPTORS-OF-THE-PIRATE-CALLED-APRIL."  
  
"What?!" Johnny said. He grabbed the thing by its collar, "Where is she?"  
  
The robot slapped Johnny's hands away from him, "IF-YOU-WISH-FOR-THE-GIRL'S-SAFETY-THEN-LISTEN."  
  
"Ow." Johnny rubbed his hands, the robot had some spunk and it was strong. "Ok, I'm listening."  
  
"WE-PROPOSE-AN-EXCHANGE-FOR-THE-GIRL."  
  
"What do you want?"  
  
"THE-GEAR."  
  
"Dizzy?" Johnny asked, "What do you want with her?"  
  
"THAT-DOESN'T-MATTER. IF-YOU-WANT-TO-SEE-YOUR-CREWMATE-AGAIN-THEN-MEET-US-TOMORROW-NIGHT-AT-MIDNIGHT-AT-THE-ABANDONED-FAIRGROUNDS. THE-EXCHANGE-WILL-TAKE-PLACE-THERE."  
  
The robot began to walk away, as it did it said, "FAILURE-TO-COMPLY-OR-INVOLVING-OUTSIDE-INTERFERENCE-WILL-MEAN-FORFEITING-THE-GIRL'S-LIFE."  
  
Before Johnny could say anything the robot took off with great speed, it was out of his vision within seconds.  
  
_"Great, from the frying pan into the fire, what do I do now?"_

* * *

May made it to Dizzy's room, she knocked on the door. "Dizzy, it's me May. Can I come in?"  
  
There was no answer, she tried again but it was to no prevail. She opened the door and looked inside, she could hear someone in the bathroom. She walked in and looked inside, she could see Dizzy over the sink washing her hands, she was trying to get the blood off her hand. She was crying as she scrubbed her hands.  
  
"Dizzy?" May said.  
  
Dizzy looked up at her friend, she didn't hear her come in. Her face was just like it was back in the alley, "May...I-I can't get the blood off." She said tearfully.  
  
May looked at her hand, the blood was mostly off, her hand was a colored a little redish from it. Dizzy continued to wash her hands, "Dizzy, please stop, the blood's all gone."  
  
Dizzy stopped and fell to her knees, "But I can smell it! I smell the blood!" She cried looking down at her hand, "I can't get the blood off."  
  
May started to walk over to her, "Please...please leave me alone May." Dizzy said.  
  
"Dizzy let me help you."  
  
She didn't look up, "I...I need to be alone right now...please understand May."  
  
Dizzy still didn't move from her position on the floor, May waited for a second. "If that's what you want, then I understand."  
  
She stepped back out of the bathroom and out of Dizzy's room, she closed the door behind her. May stood by the door for a minute, she heard Dizzy crying inside. She wanted to comfort her friend, but she respected that Dizzy wanted to be alone. With nothing May could do she sat down in next to Dizzy's door and began to cry.  
  
"May, is she alright?"  
  
May looked up to see Johnny standing above her, she wiped the tears out of her eyes, "I think so, she asked to be alone."  
  
Johnny looked at the door, he could hear Dizzy inside, crying. "I see. Well it will have wait till morning."  
  
"What will?" May asked curiously.  
  
Johnny looked back a May, his eyes were very tense, something was wrong. "Like I said, it will have to wait, get some sleep May, you've had a rough night." He said as he walked past her down the corridor.

* * *

It was a bright an sunny day in Paris the next day. But it could have been raining for all the Ky cared. Ky Kiske sat at his desk, staring at the paper work before him. _"For the sake of justice I sit here and fill out papers all day."  
_  
He recalled his days in the Holy Order, he almost wished the Crusades were still going. During those times is when he felt alive, fighting the Gears, saving the innocent, being the knight he'd always dreamed he'd be, the trill of it all exhilarated him.  
  
He shook his head to those thoughts, _"The last thing the world needs is war."_  
  
There was a knock at his door, "Yes, come in."  
  
An officer came into his office, "Sir, there's been a murder down town."  
  
Ky looked at the man, "Why bring this to me? I'm sure someone else can take care of it," He said as he reached for the paper work on his desk. "I'm busy enough at the moment."  
  
"Rumors say that a Gear was responsible."  
  
Ky snapped his head back up to the man, "What? A Gear? In Paris?"  
  
The officer nodded, "Yes sir."  
  
Ky stood up from his desk and grabbed his coat from his chair. He put on his coat, "Where's the crime scene?"  
  
Ky arrived at the crime scene and stepped out of the police car. The officers already there had tapped off the alley, a small crowd of people had shown up in front of him.  
  
"Mr. Kiske! A word with you!" Ky looked to see a couple of journalists swarming around him, some where holding recorders up to him as they asked their questions. "Is it true that a Gear is loose in the city?"  
  
"What is the IPF doing to investigate this?" Another one asked.  
  
"No comment." Ky said as he made his way past the reporters and across the barrier, the reports tried to follow him but were blocked off by the barriers and policemen in front of the alley. He made his way into the alley.  
  
There were a couple of officers inside. Some were take photos of the scene and searching for any clues that could help tell what had happened. One of the officers waved Ky over, "The bodies are over here sir."  
  
Ky walked over and looked at the first body, his head was missing. The dead man's neck showed sign of extreme stress, the head was either pulled off or cut with something jagged very quickly. He took out a handkerchief from his pocket and held it to his mouth. "Jesus, where's his head?"  
  
The officer pointed behind him and he could see it between two sacks of trash. The facial expression of the head was horrifying, the man was in true terror when he died.  
  
Ky walked over to the second body and saw that the man had his chest ripped open. He knelt down and studied the wound, the claw marks left in the man's chest where slightly bigger than his hand. What ever did this was humanoid. Ky had strong memories of villages that were raided by the Gears in the Crusades, the bodies matched similar wounds, but why would a Gear be in Paris? And how did it get in without anyone seeing it?  
  
As Ky thought, he continued to look over the body. He noticed something behind the man's head. He used the handkerchief in his hand to pick it up from the ground and examine it. It was a white feather. He looked around a little and noticed a couple more, only some of them weren't just white, but green.  
  
_"White and green feathers...how come this looks familiar?"_ Ky tried to recall his memory, _"Gears, feathers, wait..."_ He remembered the Gear in the forest a couple of months ago that he spared. Ky didn't kill her, he looked her in the eyes and they were filled with innocence, unlike the eyes of the other Gears he'd killed, which were filled with bitterness and hatred. She had wings with this color, but, she was on the other side of the world, why would she be here?  
  
"Did you find something sir?" One of the officers asked.  
  
Ky stood up, he wrapped the feathers in the handkerchief and put it his pocket. He then turned to the officer, "No," He lied, "Nothing, but I want to take over this case and handle it personally. If it is a Gear, I'm the only qualified person to handle it. I don't want see anymore innocent people get slaughtered."  
  
"Actually these guys weren't so innocent." The officer pointed out.  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"These two have been arrests several times for petty theft, mugging, and we were investigating a possible connection with an underground slave ring."  
  
"Well, guilty or innocent, this can't go overlooked." Ky commented.  
  
"Oh and we did find one more thing. A couple of shopping bags near the bodies, they were filled with trinkets, but nothing of real worth, what do you make of it?"  
  
_"Trinkets? Only tourists and travelers buy those, maybe it is her. Last time I remember she was with those pirates, it's possible..."_  
  
"Sir?" The officer asked as he saw Ky in thought.  
  
"Oh, sorry. They probably mugged a tourist before all this happened. I'm sure it's nothing. Keep me updated if anything new shows up."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
Ky stood in the alley for a moment, _"If it is her, then those pirates must be close. That ship of theirs is pretty big, so they'd have to land near the outskirts to not be seen."_ Ky wanted to begin his search right away but he need to lose the reporters and finish some last minute work back at the office. _"It'll have to wait till tonight."_


	7. Affliction: Recollection

May walked down the corridors of the Mayship until she reached April's room. She knocked on the door but there was no answer. May peeked inside and didn't see April anywhere, there was no sign that she was even her last night. _"Maybe she's in the cafeteria."_ Most of the girls were in the cafeteria getting breakfast as May walked in. She looked around and didn't see April anywhere. _"Where is she?"_ As she stood looking around, June yelled at her from across the room.  
  
"May! Come sit down with us!"  
  
She looked as June waved her over, Novel was also sitting with her. May wasn't really that hungry, but she grabbed a tray anyway and sat down with her friends. She wanted to go see how Dizzy was doing but she was probably still sleeping. She was also worried about April still missing.  
  
"So I heard you and April were caught sneaking Dizzy out last night, was Johnny mad?" Novel asked.  
  
May didn't know what to say to her. Sure, Johnny was mad at first, but when he found out about what happened to Dizzy his attitude changed from angry to concern. She didn't really feel comfortable talking about what happened last night with them, this is another reason why she wanted to find Dizzy.  
  
"Hello?" June said to May snapping her fingers, trying to get her attention.  
  
May woke up from her thoughts, "Oh, I..umm..." She trailed off.  
  
"What's the matter May, you're never this speechless. Johnny must have been really upset with you." June said. "Did he yell at Dizzy too? And where's April? You three always eat together."  
  
"Have you seen April?" May asked.  
  
"I didn't see her last night but Johnny said he knew where she was."  
  
"Johnny said that? I checked her room but she wasn't there."  
  
"That's strange." June said. "Maybe we should go talk to Johnny."  
  
May nodded, perhaps April was with Johnny or he was looking for her right now. But April wasn't what concerned her the most. "I'm more worried about Dizzy right now."  
  
"Why, did something happen to her?" Novel asked.  
  
May was a little shocked, she never really meant to say that out load. "Oh, it's just...uh...she..." May struggled for an excuse. "She was really upset about April missing and getting into trouble, that's all."  
  
"You should go see how she's doing. She usually never sleeps in this late." Novel commented.  
  
"Ok, I was going to do that after breakfast." May said, she didn't really want to wait anymore and picked up her tray and walk out.

* * *

Johnny was sitting down in one of the lounges drinking his morning coffee. He turned on the TV to watch the local news. He noticed that the news woman was pretty cute. But his attention soon turned to what the woman was saying.  
  
"In local news, two men were murdered in alley in down town Paris." She said. "The men were found mutilated this morning." The screen changed to downtown Paris with many police men going in and out of a taped off alley. Johnny noticed the real Ky Kiske among them. "Mr. Kiske was unavailable for comment, but his involvement in the investigation has spread rumors that a Gear might be responsible. We'll keep you updates with more details as the investigation continues."  
  
Johnny turned off the TV, he didn't really like the news anymore. No matter how many times he wanted to get away from the subject it came back to him. The mess Dizzy was in, those kidnappers, everything seemed to be going downhill. Who is behind it all? Maybe it was Zepp, they were tracking her for awhile, but Johnny knew they wouldn't stoop to kidnapping. Whoever was behind this likes to play dirty and were desperate to get what they want.  
  
As Johnny pondered these thoughts he realized that his coffee mug was empty, _"I need more coffee if I plan on getting through this day."_ He got up to replenish his cup.

* * *

"Mother! Mother!" said the small child running out of the house.  
  
Inez was about an old woman of age fifty with white hair. She was sweeping out on the porch when she turned around to see the young girl running towards her. The child had blue hair tied in loops with two yellow ribbons. "What is it Dizzy?" she asked.  
  
"Can I have another ribbon please?"  
  
"What on earth are you going to do with three ribbons? I don't think I can make another loop in your hair." She said.  
  
"Oh it's not for my hair," the young Dizzy said, "I wanted to put one on my tail!" She turned around revealing her black tail, "Please mother!"  
  
"Well now that a cute idea, I think there's one in my dresser, the third drawer, why don't you go see if it's there."  
  
"Ok!" Dizzy said.  
  
She watched as she ran back into the house. Inez was a little bothered about Dizzy sudden growth lately. She was only a half year old and she appeared to be the age of six. On top of all that, she had recently grown a slender black tail and a small pair of discolored wings. She had to make holes in Dizzy's clothes so they could fit. The townsfolk have been nervous with Dizzy ever since they found her out near the woods on Christmas, abandoned. The local legend said that a demon lived deep in the forest, so they can't imagine finding a child the seemed to 'come' from it. She was just a baby when her husband, Jonathan, found her in some bushes near the forest. All that was on her was a medical bracelet with the word 'Dizzy' written on it. Inez and Jonathan were so heartbroken that someone left a child out that they adopted her into their home. They didn't have any children of their own and thought that this was blessing from God. But their 'blessing' was turning into something they never expected.  
  
As Inez turned away she noticed a couple of people approaching the house. One man was the Mayor, Bill Wilson, and the other was Jack Dryden, one of her neighbors. She stepped off the porch to meet them.  
  
"Hello Inez, how are you doing this afternoon?" Bill asked.  
  
"Fine Bill, what brings you and Jack here?"  
  
"Well you see..."  
  
"It's that freak of a child you've been taking care of!" Jack interrupted.  
  
"Jack, I will not have you talk about Dizzy like that in front of me!" Inez snapped, she looked back to Bill, "Is there something about her you wanted to talk to me about?"  
  
"Well the townsfolk are a little...disturbed about her sudden appearance lately." Bill said.  
  
"And they should be! It's been what? About six months since you found her and now she's the age of six year old child! And now the 'thing' has wings and a tail!" Jack shouted.  
  
Bill looked towards him, "Please calm down Jack." He looked back at Inez, "Now I know that the child has had...a sudden growth spurt, but is it true that she has a tail and wings?"  
  
Before Inez could answer them, Dizzy came running back out of the house holding a yellow ribbon in her hand as she approached her.  
  
"Her it is mother! Can you tie it for me?" She said holding the ribbon up to her. Dizzy then looked up at the two men in front of her and shied away from them and behind Inez. Dizzy was pretty shy around strangers, even though she's seen Jack more than once.  
  
Inez looked down towards Dizzy, "Dizzy could you go back inside and wait for me, I'll tie it for you in a minute."  
  
Jack pointed out, "See its right there! A tail!" Bill could see that he was pointing at Dizzy who did indeed have a black tail coming out from behind her. "She's a monster I tell ya!"  
  
"Jack! Not now!" Inez yelled, she looked down to Dizzy again, "Please go back inside and wait for me Dizzy." Dizzy nodded and ran back into the house. As she went they could see the small discolored wings on her back.  
  
Inez watched as she entered into the house and was out of sight, then looked back at Jack, frustrated with his outburst. "Don't you ever say that in front of her again Jack! I want you off my property immediately!"  
  
Jack just snorted and turned towards Bill, "You saw it didn't you?"  
  
"I think it would be best to continue this conversation later, I'm sorry for the inconvenience Inez." Bill said, walking back the way he came. Jack was angered at the sudden dismissal, but soon followed after. Inez went back into the house, she saw Dizzy waiting just inside.  
  
Inez smiled for her, trying not to worry her. "Sorry about that Dizzy, let me see the ribbon."  
  
Dizzy gave the ribbon to her and she turned around so she could tie it on to her tail. Inez knotted the ribbon into a bow at the tip of the tail, "There, how's that?"  
  
Dizzy looked at her tail, "Great! Thanks mother!"  
  
Inez started to get up when Dizzy continued to look up at her, "Is there something else you need Dizzy?"  
  
"Mother, what's a monster?"  
  
"Well, you see..." Inez started to say.  
  
"Am I a monster mother?" Dizzy asked.  
  
The scene came to a halt, time stood still at the moment. The present day Dizzy was looking down at herself and her foster mother, she was recalling that day.  
  
_"She's a monster I tell ya!"  
  
"Am I a monster mother?"_  
  
The area changed and Dizzy looked as the two men that she'd killed lied before her, she saw as an image of herself was smiling as she killed them. She had bright crimson eyes and a bloody claw for her left hand. The image of herself then looked up at Dizzy and started to walk towards her, _"Yes, you are a monster."_ She said.  
  
"No! I didn't want to hurt anyone!" She told herself.  
  
_"But you killed them."_  
  
"I didn't mean to use my power!"  
  
_"But you wanted to."_  
  
"When ever I use my power, it causes pain!"  
  
_"You enjoyed it."_  
  
"Never!"  
  
_"They wouldn't leave you alone, they wanted to hurt you. So you fought back, and you liked it."_  
  
"NNOOO!"

* * *

May was about to knock on Dizzy's door when she heard her scream from inside. May set her tray down and quickly opened the door. "Dizzy, what's wrong!?"  
  
May looked and saw Dizzy in bed, she looked spooked. She was breathing heavily and was still half asleep. "NNOOO!" Dizzy shouted. May rushed over to her friend.  
  
"Dizzy! Dizzy wake up!" She said shaking her. Dizzy opened her eyes and looked up at May. She looked around the room, a little confused.  
  
"May, I..." Dizzy started to say, she had just woken up, but was already in tears.  
  
"It's ok Dizzy, you were having a bad dream."  
  
"It...it was so real. I was watching myself kill those men, I was enjoying it." She looked down at her left hand, the hand that was bloody from the night before, "I'm a monster."  
  
"I told you not to say that Dizzy!" May shouted, "You're not a monster, you're my friend."  
  
"May...you don't understand."  
  
"Please Dizzy, you have to stop this, you can't keep beating yourself up for what happened last night. I know it was tragic but let it be, you're scaring me."  
  
Dizzy sat silently for a moment, "I'll try."  
  
May got up from Dizzy's bed and made her way back to the door, she picked up the food tray she left. She brought it back and sat it down in front of Dizzy. "Now here, you missed breakfast and I thought you might me hungry."  
  
Dizzy looked down at the food and back towards May, "Thank you, May." She smiled a little.  
  
May returned her smile, "That's better, now eat up. After you're done we'll talk some more." May said as she stood up and left the room. As she closed the door she noticed Johnny coming down the corridor with a mug in hand.  
  
"Is she up May?" Johnny asked.  
  
"Yeah, but I think she needs a little more time." May said. "Did you find April?"  
  
"Well, that's what I wanted to talk about with Dizzy."  
  
"Why what's wrong?"  
  
He shook his head, "I don't know, but it's somehow involved with Dizzy." He walked over to Dizzy's door and knocked on it. "Dizzy? It's Johnny, can I come in?"  
  
There was a slight pause, "Yes, come in."  
  
Johnny opened the door and saw that Dizzy was still in bed, she was eating off of a tray next to her. He walked in the room and May soon followed. Johnny put his mug on Dizzy's desk. He then grabbed the near by chair and moved it next to the bed. Johnny sat down and faced Dizzy. May sat down on the end of Dizzy's bed.  
  
"How you holding up Dizzy?" He asked.  
  
"I...I don't know. I feel awful." She said.  
  
"Well that's natural, the only thing I can say is try not to dwell on it."  
  
"I know, but...I can't stop thinking about it."  
  
Johnny put his hand on her shoulder, "You'll find a way, it's never easy. Death is never easy to accept. I had a hard time when my father died."  
  
Dizzy looked up to him, "What did you do?"  
  
"Well, my father was a very caring man. He would help anyone in need and would let them into our house if they need shelter. I looked up to him, but he was killed during the war and I became an orphan."  
  
"I didn't know you were an orphan too Johnny." May said.  
  
"Yep, I had it pretty hard, but I remember my father and how he took care of people. I decided that I wanted to do the same, so others didn't have to go through what I had to go through. So I created the Jellyfish Pirates and went around the globe searching for orphans that need help." He looked towards May, "You were the first one I found."  
  
May blushed a little at Johnny's comment. He turned his gaze back to Dizzy. "Your father was killed in the war, so, he was killed by a Gear wasn't he?"  
  
Johnny didn't say anything at first, Dizzy started to look away from him. "Do you hate me because..."  
  
"No I don't hate you. I don't hate you or any other Gear. I learned that from my old man, never turn someone away just because of looks or background. Everyone's an equal to me." Dizzy looked back at him, "That's the main reason we came to find you, being an orphan and a Gear isn't an easy life at all I imagine."  
  
"No...thank you Johnny." She smiled at him.  
  
He smiled back, "Well I'm glad you're feeling better."  
  
There was another pause, "Oh, did you find April?" Dizzy said.  
  
"Yeah, what did you want to say before?" May asked.  
  
Johnny sat back in his chair, "Yes I did find her."  
  
May's eyes lit up, "Really, where is she?"  
  
Johnny looked to her, "Well that's the problem, she's been kidnapped."  
  
"What?" Dizzy and May said. "By who, where, why?" May rambled.  
  
Johnny held his hand towards May, "Calm down, I know your concerned but," He took off his sunglasses and looked towards Dizzy, she stared back at him. "I think it's the same people who attack you before Dizzy."  
  
"Why would they kidnap April?" Dizzy asked.  
  
"They're trying to get to you. Someone, or something, last night told me that they wanted to trade April in exchange for you."  
  
"We can't do that!" May shouted.  
  
Johnny looked back at May, "I know that, but they have all the cards right now. They want to meet at some fairgrounds tonight. And if we don't show or do something stupid, they've threatened to kill April."  
  
"K..kill her? Who would do such a thing?" May said.  
  
Johnny shrugged, "I don't know, but they'll do whatever they can to get what they want. And right now, they want Dizzy for some reason."  
  
"I'm so sorry Johnny. I never meant for any of this to happen." Dizzy said.  
  
"Hey, this isn't your fault, whoever is doing this is at fault, you're an innocent in all this."  
  
"Yeah Dizzy, it's not your fault." May added.  
  
"I know, but it's because of me." She looked down again, "I've caused too much trouble."  
  
"What are you going to do Johnny?" May asked.  
  
"I don't know," He said. "I'm going to have to tell the crew about this and form some kind of plan." He put his hand out and lifted Dizzy's head back up to look at her, "I know it's going to be hard but, you're going to have to come with me when it's time."  
  
Dizzy looked at him for a moment and then nodded. "I understand Johnny."  
  
"Your not going to give her to them are you Johnny!?" May proclaimed.  
  
"I don't want to lose any of my crew, no matter what. But I'm going to have to bring Dizzy so we don't cause suspicion. I don't plan on lose either of you to them and besides," Johnny thought of Testament, "I promised nothing would happened to you Dizzy."  
  
She let out a weak smile, "Thank you Johnny."  
  
"Well what do we do until then?" May asked.  
  
Johnny stood up and retrieved his mug and took a sip, "We think, plan, and act. It's all we can do until tonight."

* * *

Janus leaned against the car while he was waiting at the fairgrounds. It was about 11:40 so he didn't expect to see the pirates yet. Gregory was sitting in the diver seat, waiting incase they need to make a quick escape. He glanced over to see their captive, she was still knocked out due to the sedatives they gave her. But they should be wearing off soon. She was being held by two Robo-Kys. Besides those two, there were 18 others around the area. Ten were scattered around the area for surveillance and two sets of five from Gregory, him and the girl. His five were positioned around the car waiting for further instructions and three were on the girl, two were holding her on each side and one behind her. _"Wait a minute, there's only three, where the hell is the other two?"_  
  
Janus looked around and didn't see the two anywhere. A little while after he heard a loud clang, it came from behind him around a corner. He pointed at two of the Robo-Kys behind him, "You two, go see what that was." They nodded and speed off. Within a few seconds they returned.  
  
"SIR. UNITS-RK-002012-AND-RK-002059-ARE-FIGHTING." One of the robots said.  
  
Janus decided to see this for himself and went around the corner, the two robots followed. As he approached he heard a couple of more loud clangs. He could now see two RKs were indeed fighting, the clangs were coming from their swords hitting together. He noticed that their fighting style was extremely poor. He watched them for a minute, _"Why the hell...oh I'm going to kill them."_  
  
Janus stormed over to break up the fight, he shouted at them. "Will you idiots quit messing with these RKs! The last thing I need is you messing up my plans!"  
  
The robots stopped and looked towards Janus, one of them began to speak. "OH-COME-ON-BOSS! WE-WERE-JUST-HAVING-A-LITTLE-FUN!"  
  
The other one spoke, "YEAH-THE-PIRATES-AREN'T-GOING-TO-BE-HERE-FOR-ANOTHER-TEN-MINUTES-OR-SO."  
  
Janus was furious, he held his fingers to his nose and closed his eyes, "Stan...James...you cannot possible understand the level of anger I'm feeling right now." He opened his eyes and grabbed both of the robots and started at them, "If you don't stop remote controlling these right now you'll regret this ten folds when I get back to base."  
  
One of the robots held its hands up, "OK! JEEZ! LIGHTEN-UP! WE'RE-SORRY!"  
  
"Good, now give back control to the RKs and don't even think about doing this again."  
  
The machines nodded and their eyes flashed for a second, they then started at Janus, waiting. "Go back and protect the girl." The robots obeyed and when back to where they were keeping April. Janus also returned to his position and leaned against the car again.  
  
"They'll never learn will they?" Gregory said looking up to Janus.  
  
"I swear, if they give me a good reason, I'll kill them." Gregory chuckled at his comment, but Janus was dead serious. He didn't want anything to go wrong during this, everything was coming together nicely. The last thing he wanted is for all of it to fall apart right at the end.  
  
After a while one of the Robo-Kys from the surveillance squad came up to him. "SIR-THE-PIRATE-SHIP-HAS-BEEN-SPOTTED-AND-IS-LANDING."  
  
"Good, keep watch and make sure they find their way here."  
  
"YES-SIR." It said and flew back to where it came from.  
  
Janus smiled, _"Showtime."_


	8. Affliction: The Midnight Carnival

Johnny stood outside of the Mayship as he waited for the crew to gather. He looked towards the horizon and could see a couple of figures, most likely the kidnappers. He had his trusty Japanese sword with him, just in case the situation turned sour._ "Hopefully it won't come to that."  
_  
"We're all here Johnny." May said behind him.  
  
He turned around and sure enough, the entire crew of the Jellyfish stood before him, minus April of course. "Does everyone understand what to do?" He asked.  
  
Everyone nodded, "Good, this is going to be tricky. Dizzy, Augus, and July you'll come with me. Everyone else I want to stay on the ship and wait for my orders."  
  
The three girls walked over to Johnny. As they did May ran up to him, "What about me? I want to go to!"  
  
"I'm sorry May, this is too dangerous. I don't want to put anyone else in danger."  
  
"I can take care of myself! Dizzy and April are my best friends, I have to go!"  
  
Johnny shook his head, "I need you to stay on the ship and take my place while I'm gone. If something happens, I'll need you to pilot the ship."  
  
"Don't say that, you'll return, you, Dizzy, April. Everyone." She said, almost crying.  
  
Johnny wiped a tear that had formed from her eye, "Don't cry, I need you to be strong," He looked up to the crew, "As well as everyone else, we need to be to get through this."  
  
May had never seen Johnny like this before. He was always joking and so carefree, but now he had a serious sound to his voice, it was scaring her. She had a bad feeling about what was going to happen. She nodded, "Ok, Johnny."  
  
"Good," He looked towards Dizzy. "Are you ready Dizzy?"  
  
"Yes." She said.  
  
"Alright, let's go." He said to the girls, as they walked the crew waved them off. They soon gathered back into the ship, ready to act if need be. May was the last to go in, she watched as they disappeared into the darkness of the night, barely silhouettes by the time she looked away and entered the ship.  
  
Johnny and the three girls walked a little ways until a person soon showed up in front of them. It was one of those weird robots. "COME-THIS-WAY." It said leading the way, most likely to its master. As the thing lead the way, Johnny could make out more of them around them, watching the area. Before too long, he could see a group of people standing by a car. "DOWN-THERE." The machine pointed, it then took off back where it came from.  
  
The group walked towards the car, Johnny could see a man stand next to the car, as well as April being held by two more of those robots. About eight more of them were positioned around her and the man. _"Whoever this guy is he likes to play it safe, or paranoid."_  
  
They stopped about fifty feet from the car, Johnny and Dizzy stood in front while Augus and July were right behind them. The man by the car stood up, he had red hair and a yellow over coat. He walked up a little to greet them. "Welcome, you must be Johnny correct?"  
  
As Janus greeted them, Dizzy backed away a little, "That's the same man from before." She said to Johnny.  
  
Johnny nodded to her and looked back to Janus, "Yes I am, and who are you and why are you after one of my crew mates?"  
  
"My name is Janus, but who I work for and my reasons for wanting the Gear do not concern you though."  
  
"It damn well concerns me when you kidnap one of my crew!" He said angrily.  
  
Janus held his finger out and shook it, "No need to get impatient, look at this." He held his other hand up, there was some kind of small device in his hand. "Do you know what this is?" Johnny shook his head, "Well I'll tell you, look at your crew member." He looked and saw April being held by two of those robots with head down. She appeared to be conscious but was barely standing. He then noticed that there was something metallic around her neck. "You see that necklace? That's a little something I picked up in Zepp, it's a bomb collar. You try anything stupid and," He fanned his hands out, "Boom. You'll need a new crew mate."  
  
"You coward! What kind of monster are you!?" July shouted at him. Johnny held his hand back to calm her down.  
  
Janus merely laughed at the young girl's comment, "Well you are a bunch of pirates, I just don't trust you. Call this...insurance."  
  
This angered July further but Johnny continued to hold his hand to her, "And how do we know you can be trusted?" He asked.  
  
"You don't, that the thing. But I can assure you that all that I want is that Gear, what ever the outcome is will be determined by you." Janus said smugly.  
  
Johnny looked towards April again, "April? April can you hear me." She didn't respond, not even lift her head. "What's wrong with her?" He demanded.  
  
"Oh she's just drugged, nothing serious, just so that she can't do anything on her own." He waited a moment, "Well, shall we get on to why we're all here?"  
  
Johnny looked to Dizzy, she nodded to him. "How would you like to do this?" He asked him.  
  
"Simply send her over and we'll send the girl over to you."  
  
"At the same time." Johnny added.  
  
Janus surged his shoulders, "If that pleases you." He snapped his fingers at the two robots holding April and pointed at Johnny. They nodded and started to move over to them.  
  
Johnny looked to Dizzy, "Be strong." He said as she started to walk away from them. July and Augus followed with Dizzy. The two groups stopped when they meet. The two holding April were about to hand over her when there was a flash of light and a loud crackling sound off to one of the far sides of the fairgrounds. Everyone looked to see what it was.

* * *

Ky tracked the pirate ship to some old abandoned fairgrounds outside of Paris. _"Why in the world would they be way out here?"_ He pondered. As he made his way up to the grounds, he saw two figures up ahead. They didn't look like any of the pirates, as he looked at them one of them turned towards Ky. He could see the person's eyes glowing, the person then tapped the other one and they both went up to him. He noticed that the men had Holy Knight Uniforms like him, in fact, just like his. They had blonde hair also. But as they drew closer he could see that these weren't really men at all, but robots, and they looked similar to him.  
  
"HALT. NO-ENTRY-PAST-THIS-POINT." One of them said in a murmured tone.  
  
Ky recognized them now, they worked for the PWAB. Ky shook his head, "So the Post War Bureau is up to no good again I see?" He said to the doppelganger.  
  
"WE-WILL-NOT-ALLOW-YOU-TO-INTERFERE."  
  
Ky drew his weapon, "Then I guess there's no other way." He flicked his sword upward to one of them, "Stun Edge!" An arrow shaped bolt of electricity shot from his sword and impaled into the robot knocking it backwards, it made a loud cracking noise as it hit. The other one swung its sword at Ky, but he deflected with his own. As he did, Ky kicked the machine hard in the chest, knocking it off its feet for the moment. He took this chance and stabbed the machine directly in the chest and channeled some electricity through the Fuuraiken. The robot convulsed as Ky's sword electrified it. Ky relinquished his sword from the machine's chest and stood ready for the other one to attack. The robot stood there for a moment, it was making some kind of buzzing sound and its eyes were blinking a little. _"What is it doing?"_ The robot turned around and took off, "Hey come back here!"

* * *

Everyone looked up where the noise originated, it looked like three figures were fighting. Janus turned towards Gregory, "What's going on up there?"  
  
Gregory down at a display panel in the car, "It appears that Ky Kiske has arrived and is engaging two of the RKs...oh, make that one RK."  
  
Janus turned back to Johnny, "I said no outside interference! What are you trying to pull?!"  
  
Johnny held his hand out in front of him, "Hey, I have no idea why he's here! I don't even like the guy!"  
  
Janus held out his hand with the bomb trigger, "Don't lie to me!"  
  
"No, wait!" Johnny shouted.  
  
Janus continued to hold his hand out, but hesitated at first. He looked where the pirate was, she was right next to Dizzy. "Damn! The Gear is too close to the girl!" He put his hand down, he pulled something out of his pocket with his other hand and spoke into it, "All units converge!" With the command issued, all the Robo-Kys drew their swords and began to encircle Johnny and the girls. July and Augus took out their swords as well attacked the two holding April. The robots let her go as the girls attack them, dropping her to the ground.  
  
"Dizzy! Get April!" July shouted.  
  
Dizzy grabbed April and dragged her over to where Johnny was, she was still unable to move. Johnny pulled a communicator out of his pocket, "Go to Plan B!" He said into it.  
  
"Roger that Johnny!" May said on the other end.  
  
Johnny smiled, and then put the device away. July and Augus managed to fight the two Robo-Kys back and fell back to where Dizzy and Johnny were. The four of them had their back to April as she laid on ground still in a dazed state. About eight of the machines were around them, more were most likely on their way.  
  
They were surrounded by all sides, those robots blocked the way and were keep them from escaping. Janus walked up a little, "Don't tempt me to throw everything away." He said holding the trigger in his hand. "Give me the Gear!" Something black flew past Janus's hand, as it did he pulled his hand back, "Ow!" He looked at his hand and saw small scratch marks across it, the remote was also missing. "What!?" Janus looked up and saw a large raven with the remote in its claws, it was hovering a few feet away from him.  
  
"I've warned you once, leave the girl alone!" A voice shouted from the darkness.  
  
"Testament?" Dizzy said.  
  
"Show yourself!" Janus shouted.  
  
Appearing right below the raven, Testament seemed to walk straight out of the shadows. The bird landed on his shoulders, he retrieved the remote from the bird's feet. "Relying on cheap tricks again?" He said to Janus as he crushed the remote in his hand.  
  
This was getting frustrating for Janus, not only did Kiske show up, but now Testament. And he just lost one of his bargaining chips. He retrieved his other device, "All units attack!" All the Robo-Kys around them drew their swords.  
  
"Everyone back to the ship!" Johnny shouted as he drew his sword and cut down one of the robots in their path. It made a loud buzzing scream and sparks flew from it as he cut it with his sword. Dizzy picked up April and ran behind him, July and Augus followed right behind. About four of the robots followed in there path, while the other five were concentrated on Testament.  
  
Testament looked around, the robots were all around him, he laughed. "You think your toys can stop me?"  
  
"Kill him!" Janus shouted.  
  
Testament manifested his red scythe from the air and immediately attacked one of the robots to his side. The quick attack was unavoidable and the robot was sliced in half. A demonic purple head arouse from the ground behind one of the robots and attacked it. The robot lost one of its legs and fell to the ground, Testament sliced the fallen Robo-Ky and turned his attention to the other three. One of the unharmed RKs made his attack towards Testament but was stopped dead in his tracks by a spider web that looked to be made of blood. Testament impaled his scythe into the machine's head, tearing it off from its body. The remaining two stood there for a moment trying to calculate what he would do next, Testament took this opportunity and held his hand up high. With this gesture a large runic symbol appeared in front of him and a large gusher of blood came out of it, the front of the blood formed a skull face and attacked the two robots. Both of them were knocked several feet back and crashed into the side of a small carnival booth. Testament looked towards Janus and ran up to him swinging his scythe downward. His attack was stopped by Janus's own weapon, a double bladed sword.  
  
"Don't think I'm as easy to kill as those stupid RKs!" Janus said as he pushed Testament back a little with his weapon. Janus then started to spin his sword rapidly, so fast that it was generating wind. "Take this!" he swung his sword upward and caused a force so strong that it was cutting the ground in a straight line. Testament quickly dodged as the attack passed him and hit a booth behind him, cutting it in half. Janus repeated the attack two more times but Testament was able to dodge both of them. "Stand still!" Janus shouted as he attacked again. Testament merely laughed at his attempts to hit him. "Keep laughing," Janus said as he took his sword into both his hands and held it in front of him, he started to spin the sword very fast. "See if you can dodge this!" His blade created a large wind tunnel that started to blow Testament off his feet. Once he lost his footing, he flew several feet back and crashed into one of the broken booths behind him. Janus stopped spinning his blade, he was breathing heavily.  
  
"Get in, we have to leave." Gregory said from the car. Janus looked up to him with frustration, but calmed and nodded to his request. Janus got inside the car and it soon speed off in the opposite direction. "Well this is an unexpected turn of events." He said to Janus.  
  
"Dammit! The whole plan is in jeopardy!" He said angrily.  
  
"Hopefully the rest goes smother."  
  
"Yes, we haven't lost yet."  
  
Testament stood up from the wreaked booth, pushing aside some debris that had fallen on him. He saw as Janus made his escape in the car, he wanted to follow him, but he was more worried about Dizzy at the moment. He followed where the pirates had made their escape.

* * *

"Hurry!" Johnny shouted as he saw the robots closing in on them, there was five of them now, one must have joined up during the chase. The three girls were running right behind him. One of the Robo-Kys behind them thrust itself towards them and grabbed onto Dizzy's leg. She let out a small scream as she fell to the ground dropping April in the process.  
  
The rest of the group turned around to see one of the robots had a hold of Dizzy, as they were about to go over to aid her four more showed up and blocked their path.  
  
Dizzy looked behind her and saw that the robot was still holding on to her foot, she hit it in the head with her tail. It made a slight buzz sound as she hit it, she repeated and kicked it with her other foot. It released its grip on her, as it did, Necro formed at her side and attacked the robot with a giant axe. It smashed into pieces from the impact. A slight moan came from where April landed, "April?" Dizzy asked, "Can you hear me?"  
  
July and Augus teamed up against one of the robots while the other three encircled around Johnny again. "Don't you guys know when to quit?" He said as he sliced out with his sword, decapitating one of the immediately. The two other robot's eyes flashed a little and made a slight beep sound. Johnny attacked again but this time the robot dodged his attack. Johnny saw the other one slash its sword out at him during his attack, he managed to get out of the way in time. As he did the robot continued its assault on him. He deflected its sword with his own, has he defended himself, he noticed the other one was doing something strange. It was motioning its hand in a circle.  
  
"SACRED-EDGE!" The machine said as a long line of electricity flew from its eyes and into Johnny. He was knocked down by the blast.  
  
"Johnny!" Augus said turning her head to see him being knocked down by one of the robot's attacks. The robot that she and July were fighting seized the opportunity and hit Augus with its free hand, also knocking her to the ground. It took its sword and held it above its head, posing to strike at her. July swung her sword into its side but it clanged off it. The robot backhanded her causing her to drop her sword and stagger back. Augus looked up from the ground and saw as the machine turned its gaze back at her and began to trust its sword at her, but it stopped. Something long and skinny impaled it from behind and was sticking out of its chest, the robot jolted a little and then seized to function. The dead robot was tossed aside and where the robot once stood revealed their savior, Ky.  
  
"Are you alright?" The man said.  
  
"Yes, but Johnny's in trouble!" The girl said as she looked at where Johnny was fighting the other two Robo-Kys.  
  
Ky saw Johnny on the ground and the two machines were about to attack him, "Two can play." He said motioning his hand, "Sacred Edge!" A large arrow shaped bolt of electricity shot from his hand towards one of the robots. They both looked up, but by the time they did one of them was hit by it, sending the machine flying to the ground. It convulsed rapidly on the ground as electricity coursed through its body. With the other one distracted Johnny kicked outwards with his legs, tripping the robot. He then sliced the robot in half as it fell to the ground.  
  
Johnny got back on his feet, dusting himself off a little and looked towards Ky and the two girls. "Well I never thought I'd be glad to see you." He said to Ky.  
  
"It seems we share a common foe." Ky said.  
  
Johnny looked back and could hear the Mayship approaching on their position. Within a few moments it would land and they could finally leave this place. He turned back to Ky, "Sorry but I'm kinda in a hurry." He looked towards July and Augus, "Are you two alright?"  
  
"Yes, we're fine Johnny." They said.  
  
"Now wait a minute, I need you to answer some questions for me." Ky said.  
  
Johnny looked around and saw that Dizzy was by April, he turned and started waving towards the approaching Mayship, "Love to, but not here!" The ship started to land near them.  
  
Dizzy kneeled down next to April, she shook her a little, "April? Wake up April." April began to move a little, she picked her head up and looked up at Dizzy.  
  
"Di..Dizzy? Ach!" She held her head with one of her hands.  
  
"April! What's wrong?" Dizzy asked concernedly. April continued to hold her head, she looked to be in pain. Dizzy looked towards everyone else, "Johnny! There's something wrong with Ap–Ah!" Dizzy felt a small prick, she looked and saw a syringe in her side. And the one that had stabbed her with it was April, Dizzy could see she had a glazed expression on her face. "Ap...ril..." She felt suddenly light headed and couldn't keep herself up and fell down beside her.  
  
"Dizzy!" Johnny said as he ran over to her but was blocked off by another Robo-Ky that showed up, two more came from the shadows. "Damn! How many of them are there?" Johnny said about to cut down the robot when April ran in between him and it, she held her hands out. "April, get out of the way!" But she didn't, she seemed to be protecting the machine for some reason, he noticed that her eyes were very dull, like she wasn't awake. "What's wrong with you?"  
  
The robot behind her took its hands put them around April's head, "RESIST-FURTHER-AND-I'LL-KILL-THE-GIRL." Its grip tighten around her forehead and under her chin, he was going to snap her neck. The weird part was April didn't seem to mind at all, she still had a dazed look on her face.  
  
Johnny could see the other two robots, one was starting to pick Dizzy off the ground; the situation was getting worse by the second. Ky and the two girls were behind him but they were too far away to act, Johnny needed to do something and fast.  
  
"Dizzy!" Testament shouted as he ran up from behind the Robo-Kys. The two by Dizzy stood up and could see he was about to attack. The one holding April started to look at where Testament was approaching, this was Johnny's chance. He drew his sword with extreme haste and slashed above April's head and decapitated the robot holding her.  
  
It fell to the ground, April ran up to Johnny and started to hit him. "April stop it!" He said grabbing her hands, she then kicked him in the leg, "Ow! July! Augus! Hold April!" The two girls ran up to him and held April down, she was resisting heavily. Both Ky and Johnny ran over to where the last two robots were, they were engaged with Testament who had begun attacking one of them. The Robo-Ky managed to deflect the blow and counter attacked with its sword, but Testament dodged out of the way. The other one turned around and could see Ky and Johnny approaching fast, it picked up Dizzy and begun to retreat.  
  
"No, Dizzy!" Testament said as he managed to cleave the robot in half with his scythe. He started to run after the fleeing Robo-Ky. All three of them were chasing after it, but to no avail, the machine was much faster then them. It disappeared into the night, along with Dizzy.


	9. Affliction: Into The Spider’s Web

Dizzy awoke onto a cold, stone floor. Her vision was hazy and she could barely make out where she was. Where ever she was it was dark and dead quiet. Something was wrapped tightly across her forehead, it was almost covering her eyes. She tried to reach for it but her hands were bound together. Dizzy was scared, she didn't know where she was or what she was doing here. She started to recall what had happen to her, the incident with April and that man, Janus.

The room was small and square in shape. There was nothing inside besides Dizzy and a large metallic door. The eerie silence was soon broken by a loud clanking noise. The noise continued in the sound of steps and was slowly drawing closer. Dizzy began to panic, she wanted to protect herself in some way but was too weak to do so. All she could do was wait and listen as the sound came closer. Her breath quicken as the sound got louder and louder, soon it was right outside of the room. The noise stopped just in front of the metal door. She then heard something beeping and shortly after the door slid open. Standing in front of the opening was one of those robots from before, another one was behind it. The closest one entered the room and started to pick her up from the ground. She let out a scream but it was no use, the robot grabbed her and Dizzy couldn't do anything about it, she still felt too weak. She tried kicking the robot away from her but it continued to reach for her. The robot grabbed Dizzy foot and pulled hard, Dizzy fell back and knocked her head on the floor. Dizzy felt a sharp pain and then everything went black.

* * *

"_What a mess this has become."_ Johnny thought as he looked around the lounge in the Mayship. The lounge had a few chairs in it, but no one was sitting down. In the room with him was May, Ky, and Testament. Johnny and the others all barely managed to get back on the ship and take off with those machines chasing them. A few managed to get on board but they were quickly subdued. Novel was looking over one right now, trying to see if she could find anything useful information out of it. Augus and July took April down to the sickbay. April's odd behavior got so out of hand that they were forced to knock her out.

May looked to Johnny, "What happened to Dizzy? What's wrong with April?" She asked.

Before Johnny could answer Testament spoke first, "Yes, human, what happened to Dizzy? She was your responsibility, please do tell how this happened." He said sharply.

Johnny looked towards Testament, it look as if his eyes were piercing him. Johnny knew of all people that Testament wasn't one to be angered, and after losing Dizzy, he couldn't imagine how he must feel. "Just let me explain what happened Testament, the matter was out of my hands and…"

"NO! You listen to me!" Testament shouted. May jumped, even Johnny was startled by his outburst. Testament stormed over to where they were standing pointing his finger towards Johnny. "She trusted you and I foolishly let her go under your wing and this is how you repay her!"

Johnny held up his hand, "Now wait a minute and let me tell you…"

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you on the spot right now?"

"No! Don't!" May shouted as she held onto Johnny.

A hand fell onto Testament's shoulder, "I think you should calm down and let Johnny explain the matter." Said Ky.

Testament shrugged off his hand, "Don't touch me. And why are you here, hmm? Change your mind, decided to finish the job with Dizzy?"

"No and you know it, just please calm yourself before…"

"Before what?" Testament said raising his eyebrow, "Are you going to stop me? If I recall correctly you almost didn't survive our last encounter if that insufferable Sol didn't show up to save you."

Now Ky was getting angry, "I didn't need his help! I was just…"

"ENOUGH! Both of you! We don't need to be arguing when there are bigger problems at hand." Johnny shouted breaking up their bickering.

Testament broke his gaze from Ky and returned it toward Johnny and pointed at him again, "Mark my words human, if she's harmed, I'll…I'll…" He gripped his hand into a fist and didn't finish his sentence, and with that, he stormed out of the room.

Johnny breathed a sigh of relief, "Well that was scary." He looked downward at May who was still holding on tightly to him. "Umm, May why don't you go see how April is doing alright?"

"But Johnny I want to know what happened." She pleaded.

"I know and I'll explain it all to you later, but April need you more right now, ok?"

May nodded her head and let go of Johnny, she began to walk out. Johnny took a seat in one of the chairs and looked towards Ky, "So, why are you here? I don't suppose this is a coincidence is it?"

Ky also took a seat, "I came because of what happened in Paris last night. I know Dizzy was involved."

"Now look, it wasn't her fault, those men were…"

"Yes I know what happened, but that still doesn't explain her actions."

"What did you have in mind? Were you going to arrest her, she a Gear! And she's supposed to be dead!"

"No I wasn't going to arrest her, I was just worried and wanted to talk to her personally. But now I see that I'm not the only one that's taken an interest in her."

"You mean those freaks that look like you, what do you know about them?"

Ky tightened his grip on the chair, he hated how people confused them for him. He quickly composed himself, "Those…robots are from the Postwar Admin Bureau, they've been pretty quiet and silent until now."

"Why are they after Dizzy?"

Ky shook his head, "I don't know. They've been around since the Holy War and developed anti-Gear weapons for the Holy Order and Zepp for awhile, near the end of the war they went underground because we were investigated some of their…questionable practices and research projects."

"Wait, are you saying that they want to use Dizzy like some kind of lab animal?"

"I fear it might be worse then that, but, I don't know what exactly they have planned."

Johnny and Ky sat there for a moment, neither one said anything to the other. The awkward silence was soon broken by the sound of someone running into the room. It was Novel, "Johnny! Johnny!" She shouted as she entered the room.

Johnny and Ky both stood up and the young girl's entrence, "What? What is it Novel?" Johnny asked.

"I know where they're going!" She said, breathing heavily.

"Who?" Johnny asked.

"The people that have Dizzy, I know where they are!"

* * *

Darkness and silence was all that filled the small room until the door creaked open letting in light from the outside. Before the door became fully open the hand that which had opened the door reached up for something on the wall. After a small click, the light bulb that hung from the ceiling blinked on and off for a few seconds before it became fully on. It made a slight humming noise breaking the silence of the room. In the room was a single metal chair that sate in the middle of the room. Next to the chair was a table tray, and on it were several obscure-looking medical instruments. A black stool lay underneath a small metal sink against the wall that was perpendicular to the door. A musty smell filled the room, it looks as if the area hasn't been disturbed in years. The man in front of the door took a step and breathed in a little, and almost coughed.

"When was the last time this place was used?" Janus asked turning to Gregory who was standing just outside of the room.

Gregory walked into the room and looked around a little, "Probably at least twenty years." He walked besides the chair and drew his finger along the rim of the chair picking up the layer of dust with it, he looked at his finger and rubbed it along with his thumb, "No, roughly twenty-six years to be exact. That was the last time I was here."

"Were you interrogating someone?" Janus asked.

"Yes, an employee that was suspected of leaking vital information outside of the origination, we would use this hideout to deal with such people." Gregory kneeled next the chair and noticed some discolored spots on the ground. "Hmm, missed a spot when I cleaned up last time."

"Well this place will have to do for now, we're too far away from HQ to do anything right now." Janus took one of the small instruments off of the tray and looked at it a little closer, "What'd you do to the guy?"

"Nothing at first, he was more the willing to talk once he was strapped to the chair and saw those," He pointed to the trey. "He broke down and told me everything, he disappointed me really, getting the answers is the fun part. But…" Gregory trailed off as he also grabbed one of the instruments from the trey.

Janus put down the one he had and looked at the one Gregory was holding, it was a small rod with a tiny buzz saw on the top of it. "But?" He asked Gregory.

Gregory flipped a switch on the rod, turning on the saw. It made a high pitched, buzz sound. He then turned it off and set it back onto the trey. "But the Bureau doesn't like to have disloyal employees on their payroll."

Janus looked down at the trey full of instruments, he could hardly imagine what kind of horrific events happened here in this room. Janus looked up when he heard the sound of heavy footsteps from outside the room, "That must be them." Janus said walking over to the door and looking down the hallway. He saw the two Robo-Kys coming, the front one was holding Dizzy. When they got to the room Janus pointed at the chair in the room, "Put her there." The machines nodded and laid Dizzy into the chair, then strapped her arms and legs down. "Good," Janus said. "That'll be all." He waved his hand and the robots left the room.

Dizzy let out a slight moan as she began to move her head a little. Dizzy's head was down looking at her lap when she started to open her eyes, her head hurt a little but she was unable to hold it. She looked to the right a little and noticed her hand was tied down to what ever she was sitting in. She felt her other hand and legs were also strapped down as well. "Ah, it appears that she's finally awake." Dizzy looked up a little and noticed the man stand in front of her, it was Janus. This was the first time she's seen him this close before. He had spiky red hair, green eyes, and a slender face. He was wearing a yellow tie and a black shirt with black pants. He was also wearing a yellow jacket that stopped at his knees. Janus smiled, "Have a nice nap?"

Dizzy's eyes became more focused as she looked up at him, she felt a sharp pain from her head, "Ahhh! Why does my head hurt?"

"Oh yes, that." Janus leaned towards her tapping the object strapped to her head. "This is quite an interesting object that the Bureau created but never had a use for till now. A while ago we found a similar headband much like the one you're wearing right now in an old abandoned Gear lab. After studying the object we found that it limited the powers of a Gear. And a few prototypes later we came up with this one, only the one you're wearing completely negates a Gear's power, so…" Janus took one of the feathers out of Dizzy's white wing, "You're completely defenseless." He flicked the feather out of his hand and let it flutter to ground.

Dizzy was almost in tears, "Why!? Why are you doing this to me? Why won't you leave me alone?"

Janus slid the stool from under the sink and put it next to the chair and sat down, "Because you're a Gear, and not just any Gear. You're a Commander Gear."

"I don't know what that means."

"Of course you don't, you've lived such a sheltered life. The only thing you probably know about Gears is that most people hate them because they almost killed off the human race in the Holy War. In fact it wasn't the Gears that most people afraid of. No, it was the leader of the Gears that struck fear into the hearts of people, Justice. She was a Commander Gear, a Gear with the abilities to control other Gears. You're the genetic experiment of Justice, you're her daughter and heir."

Dizzy shook her head, making a couple of tears fall from her face, "But I don't want to start a war! I just want live peacefully with my friends!"

Janus laughed a little, "Oh yes your 'friends' the pirates. I'm sure you fit right in with all the other girls."

"They are my friends! They accepted me!"

"Well of course they did, they're just naive children! They just saw you as the new girl only you had a tail and wings like their stuffed animals. But what about Johnny, he treated you differently from all the other girls didn't he? He was more protective over you then the other girls right?" Dizzy looked down and sat silently to his comment. "See, and everyone one else you've met has treated you like some sort of time bomb ready to go off." Janus brought his hand under Dizzy's chin and made her look up to him, "And you did, didn't you? How was your trip in Paris?"

"That…that…" She started crying heavily now, "That was an accident! I didn't mean to kill them!"

"But you did. Can I ask you, did you feel good doing it? Did you enjoy embracing your Gear power to do harm?"

"N…no! I hate using my power to harm…" Dizzy was crying so much that she was unable to finish her sentience.

Before Janus could continue a phone in room began to ring. Gregory pulled out a cell phone in his pocket and answered, a few moments later he handed it to Janus, "Stan wants to talk to you."

Janus took the phone, "I thought I told you not to call me during this unless……What…...What do they……Now?......Damn it!" He shut the phone and griped it in his hand.

"What?" Gregory asked.

Janus still had his hand on the phone, he looked back at Gregory. "Stan said the chairmen called, they're asking about the Gear. They want to speak to me directly."

* * *

"Now are you sure that's where Dizzy is at?" Johnny said to Novel.

The young mechanic pointed at the map, "Yes I'm sure, I got the info straight out of that weird looking robot."

"Ok...you go inform June and have her set our new course of direction and I'll get the rest of the crew together."

"Rodger!" Novel said as she ran out of the room. She came to a couple of corners and got to a ladder that led up to the cockpit of the ship. Standing in front of the ladder, though, was Testament. "Move! I need to get up there!" Testament glared at her, the look in his eye made her feel uneasy. "Please, I need to tell June where to go and get Dizzy!" Testament immediately grabbed the young girl by the shoulders and looked her right in the eyes. Novel almost screamed at his advancement towards her. "WHERE!?" He demanded.

"She's in a small abandoned town about 60 miles from Paris due east." Novel said, barely being able to speak.

Testament thought for a second, "60 miles…east," he repeated, "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Then I'm sorry child." He said calmly.

"For what?"

"For this…" Testament hit the back of the girl's head, knocking her out. He laid her body next to the ladder. _"I'm going to rescue her myself, I'm not going to have that pirate or Holy Knight interfere. This time I'll make sure that bastard doesn't bother Dizzy again…ever."_


	10. Affliction: Symphony of Blood

_"What a mess this has become,"_ Janus thought to himself, _"why are the chairmen interfering now?"_ Janus walked down the corridor along with Gregory coming to a door on the other side. Just beyond the door led outside to the roof where a helipad laid. The sun was just coming up and Janus could see a helicopter approaching. It was a large cargo helicopter and when it landed out came ten Robo-Kys followed by a man with white hair in a business suit carrying a large briefcase. The man was Alcester, one of the chairmen of the Bureau.

"Good morning Janus," He greeted him, "you've been quite busy haven't you?"

"Just doing my job Alcester, why are you and the chairmen pulling me out?" Janus asked.

"You'll find that out when we get back to HQ." He turned towards Gregory, handing him the case. "Here, the items you requested." Gregory took the case in hand, "You know what must me done." Gregory nodded. "Now if you'll just get on board Janus, Gregory and the machines will finish up here." Alcester turned and headed back onto the helicopter.

Janus turned his head towards Gregory, "Don't kill the Gear, she's too valuable to just throw away now."

"That's asking a lot."

"I know, just let me try and talk to the chairmen first. You know that we can't pass this opportunity up." Janus turned and entered the helicopter. It soon took off with Janus and Alcester in tow.

Gregory looked at the Robo-Kys waiting on the roof. "I want you to fan out and patrol the area, no one is allowed to come in or out." The machines nodded. Gregory went back inside the building. He walked until he came the room where Dizzy was, the two other Robo-Kys were just outsides the room. He walked by them and entered to room, Dizzy was still strapped to the chair in the middle. Gregory closed the door behind him, Dizzy looked up to see him, she didn't recognize him. He had short brown hair that was slightly graying, he had brown eyes and was wearing small rectangular glasses. He was wearing a white button up shirt with a brown jacket and pants. He bent over next to the chair and set his briefcase down, opening it. Inside were many little computer displays, Gregory took out two small circular pads and put them on each side of Dizzy's forehead.

"Wha…what are you doing?" Dizzy asked.

Gregory connected the pads with wires that led back into the case. "This machine displaces your vitals, from your heart rate to your DNA analysis." He took two clamps that were also connect to the case and fastened them to her fingers on both of her hands. Once connected the machine started running and the displays flashed information.

Gregory pulled the stool in front of Dizzy and sat down. "I'm in a very curious position right now." Dizzy's eyes became fixated on him as he reached out and grabbed one of the silver instruments off the table next to her. "Some want you dead, while others want you alive. Are you worth the trouble I wonder?" He waved the instrument back and forth as he talked, it was a long rod with a ball on the end. "Well I guess I'm going to find out right now." He turned the small device on and the ball on the end began to spark wildly. Dizzy's eyes widen, "Shall we begin?"

* * *

Testament arrived at the little town where the pirate girl said Dizzy was being held. The town was like a ghost town, nothing was stirring about as Testament roamed the streets seeking where Dizzy was. The sun was about to come up, he stuck close to buildings and alleys to avoid being seen by anyone else. A low humming sound was heard off in the distance, Testament saw a helicopter, it was approaching the town. He saw it preparing to land on a building far off in the distance. He looked to the raven sitting on his shoulder and lifted it up to the sky, the raven took off and Testament waited for its return. A few minutes later it did, "Was it them?" He asked the bird. It nodded. "Did they take Dizzy away?" The raven shook its head. "Good, that means she's still being held inside. Now to take back what they have stolen from me."

Testament creped closer to the building trying not to be seen, he knew those machines were probably around and didn't want to risk alerting any of them. Not that he couldn't handle them himself, he was fearful of putting Dizzy in any risk. The building looked to be a normal looking mansion about two stories high and had two wings on both sides. It appeared to be completely abandoned. Testament flattened himself against the stone fence surrounding the house. He raised his head and looked into the front courtyard. There he saw a few of those machines, there was two by the front door and two on each side of the wings doing patrols. More were most likely inside or around back. Testament observed their movements, looking for holes in their patrols, and find out exactly which part of the house they were holding Dizzy. All he could do now is wait, wait for a time to strike.

* * *

Dizzy let out a painful scream as the electric orb touched her body. The pain was nothing like she has ever felt. Her body convulsed against the chair, but it was no good, she was powerless to break free of her bonds. Gregory took the orb away, the pain stopped, but she still could feel it. Dizzy breathed heavily and began to cry. "S..sto…stoppp.." She could barely speak.

"Oh come now, we're just getting started. Surely you have more fight then that?" Gregory responded coldly.

Dizzy looked up, "N…nnoo.." She muttered just before Gregory hit her again with the electric orb. She let out another scream.

* * *

Testament sighed a little, the machines were patrolling the area almost perfectly. The few blind spots in their patrols were quickly filled by another machine. He had a few infiltration plans but most of them weren't guaranteed that he wouldn't be seen. The morning was coming about and the area was covered in a red lighting and there was a quiet silence. You probably couldn't tell that the house was in use. But the silence was broken by a slight scream coming from the inside of the mansion, a woman's scream…Dizzy's scream. Testament need to move now, whatever they were doing in there he had to stop, before it was too late. "Make a distraction on the east side, go now!" He said to the raven as he sent it off.

* * *

Gregory let up on his torture again. Dizzy has never felt anything like this, her whole body felt like it was on fire. She could barely breathe and she could only think, _"Why? Why was this man hurting her?"_ But she couldn't speak, all she could do is try and breathe. "Is this the first time you've felt pain like this?" Gregory asked, "What are you think of right now? Hoping that I'll stop? Why I am I doing this? Where are your friends?"

Dizzy wept a little at his comments. "Pl..please stop…"

"Well no one knows where you are right now, so if you want me to stop you'll have to do it yourself." He laughed a little and put his hand on top of the headband that was on her head. "But you'll have a hard time doing that with this on your head." He raised the device in his hand again and let it spark in front of her face, she flinched as he waved it, teasing her with it.

He then struck her with it, Dizzy screamed again. She's never been this scared and alone in her life. She wished this would just end, she wanted this to stop. Where are her friends? _"Help me…help me….HELP ME!"_ she thought to herself, Dizzy soon passed out, dropping her head down.

Gregory turned off the device, "Hmph…well you're no fun." He looked at the screen and her vitals showed to be fine more or less. He put the electric orb back on the tray and took a cigarette out of his jacket and light it. He reviewed the data he collected on the computer case. Just then the one of the gauges started responding wildly, he looked up and saw Dizzy's head twitching wildly. "What the hell?" Dizzy's head cocked upwards and he saw her eyes starting to glow a little, she let out a scream, "KISSSSHHHAAAAHH!" Gregory fell back off the stool dropping his cigarette. The headband on Dizzy was beginning to crack across the front. "Oh shit…" Gregory pounded on the door, "Get in here!" The two Robo-Kys entered the room, Gregory stood up from ground. "Restrain her now!" The two machines got on each side of the chair and grabbed Dizzy who was pulling wildly at her bonds. They held her down and began to shock her. She screamed at their interference but the scream was different, way different. "Get her under control now!"

* * *

Whatever the distraction was it was working, two of the machines by the door began to walk over. Testament watched the pair on the left, they drew their attention to the right but then patrolled back to the left. Now was his chance, Testament ran for the door. When he reached it, he turned around to make sure none of the robots saw him enter. Then he opened the door and quickly closed it once he was inside. There was a staircase in front of him and two doorways on the left and right side of the hall. He heard Dizzy scream once again, he looked up and it sounded like it was coming from the second floor. He ran up the stairs to the second floor. There was only one door on each side, there was no way for him to know what was on either side or which side Dizzy was on. He walked towards the east side and put his ear to the door, listened for any movement on the other side. He put his hand on the doorknob and started to open it slowly when he heard another scream.

"KISSSSHHHAAAAHH!"

He turned his head, it came from the west side. Testament had no time to waste and ran to the other side and knocked down the door. Just down the hallway he saw two of those machines go inside of a room. He heard someone shouting from inside. He got to the door and saw that Dizzy was tied to a chair and was being restrained by the two robots. He jumped inside of the room swung his scythe cutting one of the robots. It fell back sparking heavily, the other one looked up seeing Testament slashing its counterpart. Testament turned and sliced at the other one, it backed up to avoid the attack but the room was too small and the scythe cleaved its head off. Gregory stood up and was extremely surprised at Testament entrance. He started head for the door but Testament looked up and saw the other man in the room. Testament quickly blocked the man off from making his escape. Gregory was caught off guard by Testament's quick movement and almost ran into him. Testament pick up the man by the collar, "What were you doing to her!?"

Gregory kept his composer as Testament held him up above the ground, "I was interrogating the Gear."

Testament slammed him against the wall, "BULLSHIT! What reason do you have to interrogate her!? She knows nothing of the war or any intention of being involved in one!"

"Well it was my job to determine that and my superiors think otherwise."

Testament once again slammed him into the wall, "Bastard! All her life, this girl has received nothing but abuse from the human race.... But she still believed in them with all her heart. Look at what it got her!"

"Test..a..ment…is that you?" Testament turned his head and saw Dizzy looking weakly at him.

"Close your eyes Dizzy. The world will return to tranquility soon.... And then we can finally return to the forest, the forest that you loved so much. The chirping of the birds, the rustling of the trees....we'll be surrounded by it once more." Testament turned back at Gregory who had his hand in his jacket, he was reaching for something. Testament pull his hand away and saw that he had a small device that was blinking red. "What did you do?!"

"It doesn't matter now, what does matter is that all the RKs have been alerted to your presence. They've been programmed to kill her if something went wrong." Gregory chuckled to himself, "You can either save the Gear or take your revenge on me. Better choose quickly."

Testament stared at him with extreme intensity, "I choose…both." He held Gregory higher and spikes appeared out of his hands, piercing his neck. Gregory's blood splashed over Testament's face and across the wall. He tossed his dead body to the ground. Testament heard loud metal steps approaching fast, he had to hurry. Testament quickly undid Dizzy's bonds on the chair and the devices connected to her. "Come on Dizzy we need to move." She didn't respond, she was unconscious. Testament picked her up and walked out of the door and saw the robots coming in from where he came from. They were completely blocking the hallway and more were coming. He looked down the other way and saw a door in the far distance. That was his only chance, he headed for the door with Dizzy in his hands. Beyond the door was an outside area with a helipad. Testament quickly closed and jammed the door behind him and ran out on the helipad. There were no ladders or outside stairways, _"Trapped."_ He stood and looked for anyway out, but there was nowhere to go. The machines had reached the door and were trying to break it down. The door didn't hold up much longer and came down and the robots began to emerge from the doorway.

Testament heard a squawk, he looked up and saw his raven flying in the distance, that wasn't all, he saw the Mayship too. Johnny was leaning out of one of the side door of the big airship and held a rope out, "Grab on!" The ship pasted by the roof and Testament leaped for the passing rope. He grabbed hold while keeping his grip on Dizzy tightly. Testament looked back on the mansion, the machines watched as they left in the horizon.

* * *

_Later that evening…_

"How is Dizzy?"

"She appears to be fine, she's been asleep since this morning and Testament has been watching her." Johnny said to Ky. Ky sat at the cafeteria counter with Johnny on the other side in the kitchen. Johnny walked to one of the cabinets and pulled out a bottle of scotch. "Drink?" Ky shook his head. Johnny shrugged and pored the drink into a glass and went back to the counter.

"I know you want to give Dizzy time to heal but I need to speak with her. And I can't ignore the fact that Testament attacked one of your crewmembers and was covered in blood this morning!"

Johnny took a sip of his drink, "I know what Testament did was…extreme, but what matters is that Dizzy is safe now. I have questions for him too but I think now is not the time."

"I'm afraid I must insist."

"If you want to talk to Dizzy, hey, go for it. But I'm not the one you'll have to convince." Johnny took another drink, "And trust me, not even I want to go down that road."

"Well I'll just see about that." Ky said as he stood up and walk out of the cafeteria. Johnny just shook his head and finished his drink.

Testament was standing out by Dizzy room. He looked up as Ky approached him. "I need to talk to Dizzy."

Testament didn't move, "I'm afraid I can't allow that Knight."

"Listen, I know you don't like me but I mean no harm."

"Well, if you mean no harm, then give me your sword." Ky looked at him awkwardly, but he could tell Testament was dead serious. He didn't want to at first, but he knew it was probably the only way Testament would let him into the room. He handed over his Thunder Seal to him. Testament took the sword and looked at it, then he looked towards Ky, "How ironic would it be if a Gear were to kill you with the very weapon you've used to kill Gears?" Ky continued to look at Testament, "Make it quick, she's had enough stress for one day and I still don't trust you." Ky nodded and opened the door into the room.

* * *

Dizzy awoke from her bed breathing heavily, all she could remember was that man torturing her. She remembered the pain and was still sore from it. Where was she? She looked around the room and it was her room on the Mayship. Did someone save her? Was it over? She sat up a little and tried to gather her thoughts, but all she could remember was that man hurting her. A couple of tears emerged from her eyes as she recalled the event. Why was he so cruel to her? Her thoughts were broken when she heard someone opening the door. The room was dark and she could barely make out who was coming in. The person walking in was wearing a white and blue uniform. _"No."_ She thought, _"It's those machines again! They've come back for me!"_


End file.
